Illustration by Fig & Ginger, drawn from the review. The venue's own photo is on its way.
Pasticceria and panettone maker in Via Cagliero (Martesana), Milan
Pasticceria Martesana
A Mother Dough Older Than Most Chefs
Martesana opened in 1966, when the Naviglio Martesana still ran in the open along Via Cagliero. The canal went underground. The pasticceria stayed. Vincenzo Santoro has made it one of the serious addresses in Italian pastry, and the city has made it a Bottega Storica, an official historic shop. Gambero Rosso gives it Tre Torte, its top mark for a pasticceria.
The heart of the business is a jar. Santoro's lievito madre, the mother dough, has been fed and kept alive for more than fifty years, and the house treats it like a member of the family. That dough goes into the panettone, the veneziana and the colomba, and each panettone takes many hours from the first refreshment of the starter to the box. Order the traditional Milanese one and taste what patience does. The rest of the counter is no afterthought: croissants made with a double leavening, the Roman maritozzo, the pasticciotto from Salento, layered cakes, hand-cut biscuits and a serious praline case. The savoury side is strong enough that Gambero Rosso once named it the best savoury pastry in Italy.
There are now shops on Via Sarpi, in Piazza Sant'Agostino, at Porta Romana and in the Mercato Centrale at the station, plus one in Como. Fine. Go to Via Cagliero, where it started, have a croissant at the bar, and buy the panettone before December makes the queue unbearable.
- Order this
- Panettone tradizionale milanese, Croissant al doppio lievito, Maritozzo or pasticciotto, Mignon and pralines to take away
- The damage
- $$
- Go
- A weekday morning at Via Cagliero, from 7.30; November and December for panettone
- Find it
- Via Cagliero 14, 20125 Milano
- Website
- martesanamilano.com