5 female-owned pastry shops to visit in Milan during Christmas From classical panettone to a more creative pandoro: Christmas Italian specialties by pastry chefs and enterpreneurs

Pastry-making is a true art that encompasses technique and creativity. An exact science that reaches its peak at Christmas with the challenge of challenges that has always divided Italians at the table: pandoro or panettone? An almost Hamletic dilemma that involves no-holds-barred battles: classic, gluten-free, deseasonalized, vegan, with olive oil, with matcha tea, and the list could go on and on. We decided not to choose, but to go on a quest to discover 5 women-run Milanese pastry shops that will recommend the best dessert to brighten our Christmas lunches and dinners.

Pasticceria Rovida

If we are talking about haute patisserie, we cannot fail to mention Debora Massari, the entrepreneur who transformed her father's famous business into a true luxury brand, dealing with research and development of new products to support Made in Italy. Their panettone is the King of leavened products, characterized by a complex process that involves four leavening and two doughs, for a total of no less than 62 hours. According to the Massari family, "For us, Panettone is not just a dessert but part of our history and millennial Italian culture of which we should be proud. Promoting and spreading it around the world is a pleasure and an honor every time."