Have breakfast beside Palladio’s loggias with a century old Italian cake

 

THE STORY ↓

In the heart of Vicenza, Italy, a pastry shop has been serving cakes beside the Basilica Palladiana since the early twentieth century. Its address, Contrà Pescaria 4, opens onto Piazza delle Erbe, with an outdoor seating area overlooking the white Renaissance loggias of Andrea Palladio's UNESCO listed monument.

Pasticceria Venezia dates back to 1910, according to the Italian Chamber of Commerce network, Unioncamere. Its history begins with the Bressan family, who operated the shop before Leopoldo and Giovanni Battista Ferracina acquired it in 1964.

The new owners brought generations of baking experience from Camisano Vicentino, where the Ferracina family had established a bakery at the end of the nineteenth century. They also inherited something worth preserving: the recipes of their predecessors.

One of those recipes was the Bressana, a rich almond and chocolate cake named after the Bressan family. More than a century later, it remains a speciality of the pastry shop.

The shop is included in Italy's National Register of Historic Enterprises and appears in Gambero Rosso's selection of six recommended pastry shops in Vicenza. Gambero Rosso International has also reviewed its pastries, coffee and outdoor tables.

The setting adds another reason to visit. The family preserved the original white painted wooden Art Deco furnishings during the 1985 refurbishment. In 2015, the shop introduced an additional tea room and outdoor seating overlooking the square.

THE BRESSANA CAKE · A RECIPE THAT CHANGED HANDS ↓

The Bressana has a particularly unusual place in Italian pastry history: it still bears the surname of a family that ceased to own the bakery in 1964.

The Ferracinas kept the original recipe alive, making it an edible record of the shop's previous owners.

What does a Bressana cake taste like?

The pastry shop describes two layers of almond shortcrust enclosing butter cream and pan di Spagna, the light Italian sponge cake, soaked with a liqueur syrup. Pure dark chocolate completes the cake.

The result combines the bite of almond pastry, the softness of soaked sponge, the richness of butter cream and the bitter notes of dark chocolate. It belongs to the more elaborate repertoire of traditional Italian patisserie, where several textures and pastry preparations come together in one dessert.

The liqueur is part of the documented recipe, an important detail for anyone avoiding alcohol.

The Bressana is the shop's own historical speciality, with its name and recipe linked directly to Vicenza's Bressan family. It should be understood as a local pastry heritage product, rather than a cake claimed by every bakery in Veneto.

The shop also lists a 1 kg Bressana among its cakes available to order online. Ask at the counter whether individual portions are available on the day of your visit.

THE BREAKFAST · WHAT TO ORDER ↓

For a classic Italian breakfast, start with an espresso or cappuccino and one of the shop's butter pastry croissants.

Pasticceria Venezia prepares its croissants fresh each morning. The documented selection includes pastry cream, apricot and forest fruit preserves, chocolate, apple, almond marzipan and pistachio marzipan. Savoury versions are also available.

Gambero Rosso International has praised the bakery's croissants, particularly the almond and pistachio fillings, as well as its caramelised puff pastries with apricot jam.

But anyone interested in traditional Italian pastry should leave room for a cestino.

Literally meaning little basket, a cestino is a small pastry case, typically made from shortcrust and filled with cream. The butter cream cestini at Pasticceria Venezia are among the shop's most established specialities, with the pastries prepared fresh for the counter.

The butter cream is an important part of the Ferracina repertoire. It appears in several traditional cakes and pastries, including the house millefoglie, the Italian version of millefeuille, made with layers of crisp puff pastry and cream.

For a second coffee, consider the cestini, cannoncini filled with pastry cream, or one of the small traditional pastries from the display.

THE HISTORIC PASTRY SHOP · ART DECO AND FOUR GENERATIONS ↓

An Italian pastry shop that preserves its original recipes is interesting. One that has also preserved much of its historic interior deserves a longer look.

In 1985, when Pasticceria Venezia was modernised to introduce a coffee corner, the Ferracina family chose to retain the original white painted Art Deco wooden furnishings.

The effect is part of the experience today: historic cabinetry, counters filled with traditional pastries and an atmosphere associated with the long established Italian pasticceria, a bakery specialising in cakes, small pastries, chocolates and sweets.

There is another family story behind the counter.

Giovanni Antonio Ferracina represents the fourth generation of the family's pastry tradition. His professional education included periods of training in France and Belgium, particularly in chocolate making.

Alongside the older recipes, the bakery produces pralines, macarons, chocolate creations and seasonal Italian cakes.

In February 2026, Leopoldo Ferracina celebrated his ninetieth birthday. Local reporting described him as still actively involved in the pastry shop, more than six decades after he and his father acquired the business.

THE VIEW · BREAKFAST WITH PALLADIO ↓

The outdoor tables face Piazza delle Erbe and the Basilica Palladiana, one of the defining monuments of Renaissance architecture in Europe.

Andrea Palladio redesigned the medieval Palazzo della Ragione with its celebrated marble loggias. The building forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage property City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, first inscribed in 1994.

Palladio's architectural language spread far beyond Italy, influencing buildings across Europe and North America. Here, its origin is visible from a pastry shop established more than a century ago.

For travellers exploring the UNESCO city, breakfast at Pasticceria Venezia offers an appealing beginning to the day: traditional Italian pastries, a family recipe dating back generations and a table overlooking one of the great architectural achievements of the Italian Renaissance.

The outdoor tables are subject to availability and weather. The interior tea room offers another option.

MORE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN SWEETS TO DISCOVER ↓

There is more to the Ferracina repertoire than the Bressana.

The pastry shop produces traditional millefoglie, almond cakes, meringues, custard pastries and a large assortment of fresh and dry pastries.

One particularly local speciality appears during Carnival: rufiòi, baked pastry parcels resembling sweet ravioli, filled with mostarda vicentina, the region's distinctive fruit preserve with a mildly spicy character.

The shop also prepares crostoli, delicate fried pastry dusted with sugar, and frittelle, traditional Italian Carnival fritters, including varieties filled with custard or zabaglione, a rich Italian egg cream.

In autumn, its cake collection includes Polenta e osèi, prepared with sponge cake, hazelnut butter cream, chocolate and almond marzipan.

These seasonal creations are worth asking about if your visit coincides with the relevant time of year. Availability varies.

For something to take home, the shop sells packaged biscuits, chocolates and cakes, including the Bressana.

PLAN YOUR BREAKFAST ↓

Where: Pasticceria Venezia, Contrà Pescaria 4, Piazza delle Erbe, 36100 Vicenza, Italy.

What to order: Butter pastry croissants, butter cream cestini, millefoglie and the historical Bressana cake.

The view: Outdoor tables overlooking Piazza delle Erbe and the Basilica Palladiana, weather and availability permitting.

When: Breakfast in the morning, with afternoon pastry and coffee service. Published listings report Monday closure. Confirm current opening hours before visiting.

Bressana availability: The historical cake is available to purchase, including a 1 kg option listed in the shop's online catalogue. Contact the pastry shop for individual slices, smaller formats or advance orders.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ↓

What is Bressana cake in Italy?

Bressana is a traditional cake associated with Pasticceria Venezia in Vicenza, northern Italy. It combines almond shortcrust pastry, butter cream, liqueur soaked sponge cake and dark chocolate. Its name comes from the Bressan family, who owned the pastry shop before 1964.

Where can you try the original Bressana cake?

Pasticceria Venezia at Contrà Pescaria 4 in Vicenza continues to produce the cake using the historic Bressan family recipe. Ask about individual portions or ordering a whole cake.

Where is Pasticceria Venezia?

Despite its name, Pasticceria Venezia is located in Vicenza, Italy, beside the Basilica Palladiana and Piazza delle Erbe.

Is Pasticceria Venezia a historic Italian pastry shop?

Yes. Unioncamere records the activity from 1910 and includes it in the Italian National Register of Historic Enterprises. The pastry shop also belongs to Vicenza's historic shops network.

Where can you have breakfast with a view of Palladio's Basilica?

Pasticceria Venezia has outdoor tables overlooking Piazza delle Erbe and the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza's UNESCO historic centre.

Which traditional pastries should you try in Vicenza?

At Pasticceria Venezia, look for the Bressana cake, butter cream cestini, classic millefoglie and handmade breakfast croissants. During Carnival, ask about the local rufiòi filled with mostarda vicentina.