You have to try one of these if you come to Naples. In Bagni di Lucca we have the sfoglia and in Naples there is sfogliatella.
This delicious little pastry is everywhere in Naples. It is generally served warm, dusted with icing sugar, which will fall all over your clothes. It seems to be constructed from one long piece of delicate pastry. When you bite into one it will unravel like an old sock and the contents will drop onto you shirt. You must eat them very carefully, and you should eat them for they are delicious.
I have lots more to share with you about Napoli, but I am off to Sorrento now to visit my relatives, so the next post will be from S’Agata, near Sorrento where the family lives.
I think I’m putting on weight just reading your posts. Where can you buy something like this in Brisbane?
By: Theresa Lauf on October 26, 2011
at 6:52 am
I haven’t seen anything like this, but we must have them, we have lots of Italian style coffee places. I will investigate on my return.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 11:19 am
The “sfogliatella” is basically puff pastry with a filling which can be a custard, a cream or even savouries. It is believed to be of Middle Eastern origin and related to the phyllo pastry concoctions which come from there. They can be called “sfogliatella” in Italy, “mille-feuilles” or “napolitaine” in France, “milhojas” in Spain. They say that the Arabs brought this recipe with them in the 8th Century and it was adopted by the Europeans.
In any case and under any name, they are delicious.
By: Mulino Dominillo on October 26, 2011
at 7:12 am
Thank you very much to the Arabs.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 11:20 am
Yum, Can we get this at the French Twist ??
By: Russell on October 26, 2011
at 7:40 am
There would be French equivalent, but it would be slightly different.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 11:21 am
We ate a sfogliatella when we were in Sorrento, al crema e cioccolato.. it was sooo delicious. we loved Sorrrento alot, even though we just there a couple of hours. we visited a narrow market street, full of shops, and resto… very beautiful… actually, i posted few pics about Sorrento on my blog. im sure you have seen them. so ill be waiting for your pics about Sorrento. 🙂 ciao
By: Fragolina on October 26, 2011
at 7:57 am
I LOVE THESE. omg. Yum. ‘bough said.
By: Charlotte on October 26, 2011
at 8:42 am
‘nough said, is what I meant, but the computer changed the spelling automatically without me noticing. What’s a ‘bough anyway?
By: Charlotte on October 26, 2011
at 8:43 am
Computers do strange things sometimes.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 11:22 am
I was asked about these last year by someone and had to look them up and spent a good few hours looking at videos on YouTube on how to make them and then I backed off, thinking it was seriously above my skill level …. Another enticing reason to visit Napoli xxx
By: Joanna on October 26, 2011
at 8:51 am
It is worth a trip to Napoli for these alone.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 11:22 am
Congratulations, you have shown wonderful pictures again in both Naples issues…
Tks
By: Ilario Cassai Del Sonno on October 26, 2011
at 8:59 am
Napoli has lot to offer.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 11:23 am
How about a phonetic spelling for this delicious pastry? I’d love to be able to pronounce it!
By: Kay Tucker on October 26, 2011
at 12:48 pm
These sound messy – and delicious!
By: Journey Photographic on October 26, 2011
at 1:16 pm
I’m sure if I had enough practice I could eat one without dropping it all over me.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 4:57 pm
I love these pastries!! They are delicate and best when freshest, for sure. Finding them in Italian bakeries here in Toronto was a nice surprise. Thinking someone was slaving over them in the back room I enquired and found out that they come from Italy. Frozen. Then they just bake them off! It’s NOT the same; but a close second, usually filled with a sweetened ricotta mixture. When not fresh they lose their messy, flakey selves.
By: Caterina on October 26, 2011
at 1:49 pm
That sounds like cheating to me. I guess it is better than not having them at all.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 4:56 pm
I must go looking for them in Leichhardt or Haberfield.
By: Richard Tulloch on October 26, 2011
at 6:38 pm
Good luck. I hope you get a good one.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 7:42 pm
When I was in Naples, I did try one. And they are delicious!
By: Julie on October 26, 2011
at 6:38 pm
It is a pity they aren’t available everywhere.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 7:41 pm
My friends from Napoli had told me a thousand times to try sfogliatelle when visiting their city of which I did… I was hooked right away and had one or two for breakfast every day for two weeks, I’m positive sfogliatelle is one of the reasons for my constant returns to the city, plus the fact that it seems impossible to find the pastry made correctly any place else. If you’ve been to Naples and not tried a sfogliatella you’ve surly missed one of the sublime pleasures of life, in the true sense of the word the pastry is ambrosial. I’ve tried the pastry from Manhattan to San Francisco where they can’t even be called a distant cousin to the original. I’ve made sfogiatelle which were good, but hey, half the flavor comes from eating one in a piazza while viewing street theater, hearing church bells, covering your ears from the sounds of zooming Vespas, the sight of grandparents hand feeding their grandkids, etc, etc., etc., etc!!! The whole nine yards!!!
By: Gian Banchero on October 26, 2011
at 7:23 pm
I think you are right that half the fun of sfogliatella is where you are eating it.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 7:40 pm
I know these! I think they’re known here as lobster claws? Were yours filled?
By: Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial on October 26, 2011
at 8:41 pm
They are also called coda di aragosta – lobster tails here. Mine was filled with a sort of custard.
By: bagnidilucca on October 26, 2011
at 9:00 pm
Now I’m hungry!
By: thirdeyemom on October 26, 2011
at 9:59 pm
I’m back in Bagni di Lucca now and it is breakfast time so I’m off to the bar for a sfoglia.
By: bagnidilucca on October 27, 2011
at 5:59 am
iF GIAN BRANCHERO SAYS HE MAKES THEM , I AM HEADING FOR HIS HOME TOMORROW AS HE IS A WONDERFUL CHEF. GINA
By: Anonymous on October 27, 2011
at 12:29 am
Can I come too?
By: bagnidilucca on October 27, 2011
at 6:00 am
These are truely my favourite sweets when in Italy…. the pastry just falls away and melts in your mouth along with the divine flavour of the filling, I made it a mission to have as many as possible when I was there last, hence the extra kilos coming home 🙂 but hey it’s Italy !!!!!
By: Sandra Larkin on October 27, 2011
at 3:20 am
What is a few extra kilos when something is this good.
By: bagnidilucca on October 27, 2011
at 6:00 am
Look at those lovely petticoat layers of pastry! 😮
By: Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella on October 27, 2011
at 10:24 am
Debra, here’s the link for the Borgo a Mozzano Halloween Festival, Monday 31st is of course the main night. It’s the biggest Haloween Festival in Italy. If you are brave enough!!! Caroline
http://www.halloweencelebration.it/
By: From a Tuscan Villa on October 27, 2011
at 10:56 am
Thanks for that. Unfortunately I will be away for most of it, but I will try to do something Monday.
By: bagnidilucca on October 27, 2011
at 11:18 am
I have fond memories of eating (too many) sfogliatella in Naples – a definate highlight.
By: sheof108names on October 29, 2011
at 3:43 am
Ohmigod! I miss Italy and all their cuisine. 🙁 I thought sfogliatella is entire Italy. Didn’t know that it is exclusively of Naples. Good to know! *thumbs up*
By: rommel on November 23, 2011
at 5:06 am
Each area has its own version of the sfogliatella. Here is Bagni di Lucca we have the sfoglia, which is similar, but not the same. You can see it in the Italian Breakfast post.
By: Debra Kolkka on November 23, 2011
at 6:30 am
[…] see more on amazing Napoli click here, here and here. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); […]
By: Nativity scenes in Naples « Bagni di Lucca and Beyond on December 20, 2011
at 6:05 am
The BEST dessert, EVER!
By: tycobeans on July 4, 2012
at 2:01 am
Also good for breakfast.
By: Debra Kolkka on July 4, 2012
at 4:18 am
Or dinner, or lunch, or……!
By: tycobeans on July 5, 2012
at 11:43 pm
I’m planning Naples and Capri next and am loving your Naples section already! Can’t wait.
By: lazylauramaisey on October 10, 2012
at 12:44 pm
Have a great time in Napoli and the Amalfi Coast.
By: Debra Kolkka on October 11, 2012
at 8:20 am
never heard of this!
By: Ishita on September 9, 2015
at 9:01 am
They are very popular. We get a slightly different version here in Ponte a Serraglio and I have one every morning for breakfast.
By: Debra Kolkka on September 9, 2015
at 9:14 am
Lucky u! Remind me to try these next time I go 😀 I am reading a lot of your old posts, Debra. Its sad people didn’t use to read blogs that time. Brilliant stuff!
By: Ishita on September 9, 2015
at 9:15 am