Where does tiramisù come from?

Tiramisù feels ancient. It has the air of something grandmothers have been layering since the Renaissance. In fact, it is younger than a good many grandmothers, and the question of where it was born has produced one of Italy's most enjoyable food rivalries: Veneto against Friuli-Venezia Giulia, two neighbouring regions, one dessert.

The Veneto claim: Treviso

The best-known story starts in Treviso, at a restaurant called Le Beccherie. According to Wikipedia's tiramisu entry, obituaries for the restaurateur Ado Campeol reported that tiramisù was invented there, with his wife Alba di Pillo and the pastry cook Roberto Linguanotto credited with the dessert, and that it went on the menu in 1972. The Italian Wikipedia entry adds that a 1981 article placed its creation at Le Beccherie in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and that Linguanotto traced it back to sbatudin, a homely mixture of beaten egg yolk and sugar, with mascarpone added.

Treviso has other contenders too. The same Italian entry mentions claims for two other local restaurants from earlier decades. The city's case, in short, is that the tiramisù people know today took shape in its restaurants.

The Friuli claim: Tolmezzo

Friuli's case centres on Tolmezzo and the Albergo Roma. There, according to the Italian Wikipedia entry, the cook Norma Pielli is said to have adapted an older layered dessert from Pellegrino Artusi's famous cookbook, swapping in mascarpone and coffee. The supporting evidence includes a bill from 1959 listing two portions of "tirami su", and menus from the 1960s. Some food historians consider these the earliest documented versions.

There is also an even older Friulian story: a layered dessert served at a restaurant in Pieris in 1938, renamed with a "tirime su" in the 1950s. The Italian entry describes it as a different dessert, with chocolate mousse, sponge and zabaione, so it is more of an ancestor than a twin. (For Artusi himself, see our books page on him.)

Who won?

Officially, both. Italy keeps lists of traditional regional food products, and according to the Italian Wikipedia entry, tiramisù was added to the Friuli-Venezia Giulia list in July 2017 and to the Veneto list in March 2024. That has not settled the argument, and nobody in either region seems to want it settled. Our view: if two regions are fighting over your dessert, it is a very good dessert.

Younger than it looks

What both sides agree on is that tiramisù is modern. The English Wikipedia entry notes that the recipe does not appear in cookbooks before the 1960s, that it first appeared in an Italian dictionary in 1980, in English in 1982, and in a cookbook on Venetian cooking in 1983. From there it went around the world remarkably fast, which is why it now feels as if it has always existed.

What the name means

The name comes from tirami su, "pick me up" or "cheer me up", from the dialect form tiramesù. The Italian entry links it to the idea of a restorative sweet. Given the coffee, the sugar and the mascarpone, nobody has ever needed it explained twice.

What makes a tiramisù a tiramisù

The versions people argue about share the same core: savoiardi (ladyfinger biscuits) dipped in coffee, layered with a cream of egg yolks, sugar and mascarpone, finished with cocoa. Variations are everywhere: with or without a splash of liqueur, with whipped cream folded in, with strawberries in summer, with pistachio cream. Purists will tell you which are wrong. Purists also disagree with each other.