Fratelli Klainguti

Signature pastries in an old-world Genoa setting

Fratelli Klainguti sits in Genoa’s historic centre as a gran bar, pasticceria and café, with a story traced to the early nineteenth century. The usual account places its opening in 1828, when four Swiss Klainguti brothers arrived in Genoa and opened a confectionery shop after missing their departure to America. Today it works from a restored room on Piazza Soziglia, where reconstructed interiors and recovered family recipes brought the smell of its sweets back to the square. That matters because the pastry list is not generic: it is built around revived Klainguti names such as Mordiaz, Portantur allo zabaione, Gobelletti di pastafrolla e confettura, Falstaff and torta Zena, with torta Engandina among the house specialities. Torta Zena is the clearest calling card, a layered cake of sponge, chocolate cream, hazelnut cream and marzipan. In 2026 the house was named Pasticceria Novità dell’Anno by Gambero Rosso.

Mirrors, chandeliers and a classic café mood

The room does a lot of the work before anything is ordered. The appeal is inseparable from the restored interiors: crystal chandeliers, original gold-framed mirrors, and a retro café atmosphere that points back to Genoa’s old city rather than to a modern coffee-bar template. A modest exterior gives way to something far more extravagant, a decorative glamour that feels theatrical while the place still functions as a working café-pasticceria. The ritual is coffee and pastry, above all the morning pairing of cappuccino with a breakfast sweet. Outdoor seating extends that onto the square, where the lively street life of Genoa does the rest.

Order around the signatures

The most useful way to approach Fratelli Klainguti is to order around the named pastries rather than to read it as a broad modern bakery. Start with torta Zena, the signature singled out most often, then look for torta Engandina and the revived sweets from the Klainguti recipe archive: Mordiaz, Portantur allo zabaione, Gobelletti di pastafrolla e confettura, and the Falstaff brioche. Falstaff carries a specific cultural link, since the house says the brioche was named in honour of Giuseppe Verdi, one of the famous gourmand customers attached to the place. The wider programme runs to cakes, breakfast sweets with cappuccino, gelato and, at lunch, a few typical Italian primi, but the strongest identity stays Genoese confectionery. The through-line is clear: family recipes, an old-town café ritual, and sweets with names that belong to this room.