Antica Pasticceria Pan BelmonteElvis Blessent has been running this old patisserie under the medieval arcades in Cuorgnè’s Via Arduino since 2005. The splendid devanture – the stone plaque at the entrance engraved with the year in which the shop was established, 1878 – the boiserie and the glass cases inside conjure up the atmosphere of the verse of the local fin-siècle post-decadent poet Guido Gozzano.
The cake that gives its name to the shop is similar to a Torta Margherita and was created in 1938 by pastry chef Andrea Fenoglio. It is made with very simple ingredients (eggs, sugar and flour), is shaped like a gold nugget, and is packaged in an elegant green box with a drawing of the Sacred Mountain of Belmonte, a sanctuary very dear to the inhabitants of the Canavese district.
Other specialties not to be missed are the amaretti, created in 1967 at the Tre Re patisserie in Castellamonte, which was taken over by Elvis in 2010. These two classics apart, the production range spans from Piedmontese petite patisserie to chocolate pralines, from yeasted cakes (panettoni and colombe) to torcetti and cornmeal biscuits. In season Elvis also produces ice cream and we recommend the Pan Belmonte and amaretto flavors.
The second shop is in Castellamonte at Largo Ferruccio Tolentino 16.
