Pasticceria Gattullo

Primavera, Carlina, Fabiola: the named cakes first

The pastry case is the fastest way to read Gattullo. Three named house cakes carry it, Primavera, Carlina and Fabiola, and they are the clearest statement of what a classic Milanese pasticceria means here. Around them sit rich tarts with cream and fresh fruit, jam tarts, assorted mignons, brioches and breakfast shortcrust pastries.

The tart programme runs deep enough to have its own shorthand: cream, apricot, blueberry, wild strawberry. Seasonal work matters too, with artisanal colombe and decorated chocolate eggs at Easter. Savoury items widen the counter without pushing pastry aside, among them panini, sandwiches, mini pizzas and small snacks.

An old-school Milanese pastry salon

The room reads less like a minimalist coffee bar than a long-running pastry salon: plush and old-school, pink tablecloths, display cases filled with cakes. It has been open since 1961 and sits in the Bocconi and Porta Lodovica orbit, so students, regulars and Milanese pastry loyalists all pass through it.

Pastry here is treated as an older craft rather than a retail category, and the day is built around it: breakfast, the lunch break, afternoon tea, coffee breaks for events, and aperitivo to finish. Service runs at the counter and at tables, with takeaway as well. That flexibility lets the place work through the whole day: brioches and pastries early, hot and cold plates or panini at midday, a sweet pause in the afternoon, and aperitivo to close. Regulars know the staff by name, which gives a fairly ceremonious room a homey undertone.

Start with a named cake, then work outwards

Order a named cake first if one is in the case. Primavera, Carlina and Fabiola are the strongest house markers and the reason most people come back. Then move to the tarts, especially the cream-and-fresh-fruit and jam versions that recur through the range, and use mignons when the point is to survey the counter rather than commit to one slice.

At breakfast the answer is simpler: a brioche, a small pastry, a shortcrust bake. For savoury, panini, sandwiches or mini pizzas hold the middle of the day. Drinks have their own signature in the Domenichino, a spritz variation built from Aperol, Campari, Cointreau and gin, and gelato appears alongside the pastry when the weather asks for it. What holds all of it together is longevity and craft rather than novelty.