Pansa

Amalfi lemons, worked every way

Delizia al limone is the pastry Pansa is measured by: a dome of sponge and lemon cream built on Costa d'Amalfi IGP lemons and the Amalfi sfusato. Around it sit scorzette, candied lemon peel made to a historic recipe, pan di Amalfi, and lemon biscuits that read as a local answer to cantuccini. The house has been working the same citrus since 1830.

Behind the citrus is a leavening tradition, with lievito madre carrying the seasonal work: Colomba classica, Colomba al limone, Colomba arancia e cioccolato fondente and Colomba alle Albicocche del Vesuvio at Easter, alongside pastiera and Pasqua Amalfitana. Part of the fruit comes from Villa Paradiso, which the family treats as the green heart of the business, and the case also runs to chocolate work, pralines and cakes for celebrations.

A table on Piazza Duomo

The shop stands on Piazza Duomo, immediately beside the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, and its position is half the experience. Historic fittings, a smell of citrus, chocolate and almond, and display cases lit like jewellery cases give the room an old formality that the square outside softens at once.

The rhythm is a pastry pause rather than a meal. Seating runs to a small terrace, and plenty of people carry the pastry to the Duomo steps next door instead. The drinks side is more serious than a pastry shop usually bothers with: thick hot chocolate, almond milk, whole-leaf teas and a lemon granita made with the family's own lemons, which is the obvious pairing when the heat comes off the square.

Delizia first, scorzette second

If there is only one order, make it the delizia al limone. It is the clearest statement of what Pansa does with Amalfi lemons and the pastry the house is best known for. Scorzette are the second, and the more portable: candied peel that survives the journey home and shows the same fruit in concentrated form.

Pan di Amalfi and the lemon biscuits deepen the same citrus thread, while pralines and chocolate pull in another direction if the table wants contrast. The recognition backs the counter up: Pansa holds Tre Torte in the Gambero Rosso Pasticceri e Pasticcerie d'Italia guide for 2026, sits within APEI, and has appeared at Host 2021 and World Pastry Stars 2019.