Sicily Pastry Shops Palermo
Sicily Pastry Shops and Sweets – Palermo
I love good food, but I especially love a good pastry or sweet treat. On my 12 day trip to Sicily, I visited all the pastry shops that I had time for and ate way too many sweets. So worth it! Here’s a gallery of the shops and pastries I ate in Palermo. I did quite a bit of planning and research before my trip and tried to hit up the most popular/famous places and maybe a few that looked too good to pass up. I also fell in love with granitas since the weather was so hot and I needed something to cool me down.
My trip covered the towns of Palermo, Cefalu, Malfa, Stromboli, Messina, Taormina, and Catania. It was a remarkable trip. Check out my 12 day itinerary and Sicily Travel Tips!
I Segreti del Chiostro
The first place I had to visit in Palermo was I Segreti del Chiostro. Of all the places I had researched, I wanted to go here the most. Historically, you could go to Sicilan female monasteries to buy delicacies made by nuns. The recipes were a secret and only taught by word of mouth to younger nuns. I Segreti del Chiostro aims to recover the tradition of Sicilian conventual pastry and is located inside the former monsatery of Santa Caterina.
I went to I Segreti del Chiostro multiple times, since it’s much better to eat your goodies there instead of taking them to go. There’s just too many choices to eat at once, so I had to go back . There can be a line outside the door, but they have people there to help manage how many visitors are inside. They also give you a number that they’ll call out when someone is ready to help you with your order. Then enjoy your sweets out into the garden. If you’re traveling with other people, I’d suggest sharing a cannolo and a few other sweets. I thought the cannolo was a bit too large for one person, but it’s the star of the show.
I wish I had tried the Cassatella di sant’agata, which are white cakes shaped like breasts in honor of Saint Agatha. They are usually made of a sponge cake, some kind of sweet ricotta filling, and glazed in white icing. From what I read, these are traditionally from Catania and made during the Festival of Saint Agatha. When I was in Catania, I did not find any as beautifully made as these.
Forneria
This bakery was on the Street Food Tour that I took (the tour was great, I highly recommend it) and is known for their fresh breads and Sfincione pizza (which I tried on the tour and it was delicious!). During the tour, I was eyeing the cookies. I should’ve just bought the cookies then, but since I didn’t, I had to make a trip back because I couldn’t get those cookies off my mind! Since I didn’t know what kind of cookies they were, I just pointed at and bought a few I wanted to try. They were all flavorful and had a crunchy cookie texture. The Girasole (sunflower) cookie had an apricot filling and sugar pearl sprinkles. The cookie with the black pearls on top tasted a bit like chocolate, though I can’t be sure. I also really enjoyed the more savory sesame biscuit.
LaKala Gelateria Artigianale (Artisan Ice Cream)
I also went here during the Street Food Tour. Apparently, “the” way to eat gelato is in a brioche sandwich. My tour guide said that when he was younger, he’d have a gelato sandwich for lunch! This was the last stop on the street food tour, and I was so full, but I could not say no to a gelato sandwich. It sounds weird at first, but it was delicious! The brioche bread was so soft, and it just worked. I’d recommend trying one!
il Signor di Carbognano
When I came across this gelateria, I was initially looking for another shop. I think the previous shop was replaced by this one and there was a line that spilled out onto the street. It looked good, so I had to try it.
