The Cannonata from Antonini Pastry Shop / One Hundred Things to Eat in Rome
8. Before Instagram, long before social media, even before television, there was him: Antonini. Mr. Giuseppe Antonini, also famous for having worked at court, started with a modest shop window in 1927, then 2, then 3, then boom.
One Hundred Things to Eat in Rome / 8
This is precisely where the name "Cannonata" came from, a truly iconic recipe of this place, made "only," if I may say so, with sponge cake, dark chocolate, liqueur, and zabaglione. That zabaglione is so good, it's almost Antonini's trademark. Like the true VIPs, the many who pass by and fall in love with the display case, the Cannonata has names and nicknames. They also call it Black Breast or Priest's Hat, and they eat it with a spoon, in cake form or in individual portions, at home or at the tables on Via Sabotino, on Sunday lunch. It even becomes a "trabucos," a semifreddo wrapped in a wafer and covered in chocolate. It becomes an ice cream flavor. It becomes a recipe to copy. What isn't that Cannonata?
Meanwhile, everything inside is changing: the Antoninis come and go, the place is being renovated, becoming brighter, more elegant, and more spacious. There are tables inside too, there are aperitifs, there's a new logo, Nanni Moretti is coming to shoot a film, there will also be a shop for his own branded products, and Maurizio Antonini is here to tell this amazing story. And then there's the Cannonata, which hasn't changed a bit, and it's just as good as the first time. Maybe even better.
Name: Cannonata By: Pasticceria Antonini Where to eat it: Via Sabotino, 19, 00195 Rome RM Price: 25 euros (4/5 portions cake) For those who love: tradition, 80s, liqueur, Gemelle Kessler.
