Virgola pasticceria terapeutica

Virgola Pasticceria Terapeutica opened in December 2022 in San Vito dei Normanni, in the province of Brindisi, as Puglia’s first therapeutic pastry shop. It grew out of the XFood social restaurant, carrying that training-and-employment model into pastry: women who have experienced violence and young people with disabilities or on the autistic spectrum learn the work in a real production kitchen. The counter and the mission run on the same floor.

A visible laboratory led by Nicola Di Lena

Nicola Di Lena is the pastry chef behind the project, and his background sets the technical level. Born in Switzerland to a Sicilian mother and a Puglian father, raised in Ginosa, he previously led the sweet side at Seta, the two-Michelin-star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Milan.

The recognition has not been only technical. In 2024 he was named among the heroes of the everyday for work against gender violence, ethical entrepreneurship, disability inclusion and solidarity, and received the honour of Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica Italiana. Virgola itself was included in Gambero Rosso’s 2025 Pasticceri & Pasticcerie, and took a special sustainability award in the 2026 edition for combining business and inclusion.

The workshop is in sight of the counter

The defining feature of the room is the relationship between counter and production. Large windows open the pastry laboratory to view, so guests watch the team work rather than only the finished sweets in the case. That transparency is the point: craft and social mission are visible at once.

The offer suits breakfast, merenda and takeaway. Mornings run to croissant, cornetti, pan brioche, veneziane, maritozzi, biscuits, baci di dama and cakes. Beyond that sit mignon pastries, single-portion desserts, spoon desserts and seasonal creations that come out of the kitchen’s own experimentation, presented as authors’ desserts rather than standard shop pastry.

Order the millefoglie first

Start with the millefoglie, Di Lena’s signature. The detail that matters is the caramelisation: the pastry should hold both the caramel note and its crispness, which explains most of the house approach, where structure, texture and sugar control count for more than decoration.

For a morning order, move from croissant or cornetto to pan brioche, veneziane or maritozzi. For something smaller, take baci di dama, biscuits, mignon pastries or a single-portion dessert. Cakes, spoon desserts and seasonal pieces show the wider counter, which reinterprets traditional flavours with balance and precision rather than repeating them. The millefoglie, the visible laboratory and the social project are inseparable here.