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Panettone all year around - La Pasticceria Cucchi is a Milanese Institution!

Pasticceria Cucchi has been synonymous with “made in Milan” since, in 1936, Luigi Cucchi and his wife Vittorina founded it as 'Cafè Chantant' at number 1 in Corso Genova. Razed to the ground by a bombing by the allied forces in August 1943, the place was rebuilt in a short time assuming its definitive identity as a pastry shop, while retaining traces of its past in its essence.

The Pasticceria relentlessly churns out Panettone, giving each customer the opportunity to enjoy a slice of it accompanied by a hot drink or to buy the whole Panettone to remember or celebrate a special event . Specializing in Panettone has helped Pasticceria Cucchi has given life to a new tradition that everyone soon fell in love with.  This most Milanese dessert of all, born as "Pan di Toni", originated in the court of Ludovico Maria Sforza known as 'il Moro'.

There is another traditional Panettone baker in Italy - the Fraccaro Family, maintain the strictest standards in producing this centuries-old recipe with the very same organic (biologico) ingredients used by  the original Toni himself - Pan de Toni.


Legend has it that in his kitchens, the young assistant chef, Toni in fact, burned the dessert planned for the grand finale of the Christmas lunch, but fortunately with part of the dough left over from that dessert, he prepared a leavened dough enriched with candied fruit and raisins passes. On the day of the year’s most anticipated culinary event — the Duke’s annual Christmas Luncheon — an accident caused irreparable damage to the cake destined to crown the holiday feast. In a rush, and suddenly remembering Toni’s charitable mission, the chefs and pastry cooks scrambled to inspect the back rooms to see whether Toni had prepared something for his needy followers that was suitable for their liege and his guests. There, they discovered one single item that—apart from tasting delicious—was also perfectly presentable in The Duke’s dining room: a tall, fluffy loaf of sweet bread shaped like a Sultan’s crown.

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