Food: Le "Margheritine"

Stresa's namesake pastries, the Margheritine di Stresa, have just been cited one of the top ten best-tasting foods from the recent Salone del Gusto. Sigrid Verbert, whose cooking blog Il Cavoletto di Bruxelles is one of the widely followed Italian blogs, with over 25,000 viewers daily, recently visited the enormous food fair in Torino and wrote about her favorites. Of the Margheritine Sigrid wrote, "They come from Stresa, precisely from the Pasticcieria Pompa, and I, who have never tasted them before, I must admit that from last night there will never again be any other biscuits that would stand a chance, these cookies are frankly the best and deliciously crisp."

The so-called Margheritine di Stresa were created in 1857 in the pastry shop of Pietro Antonio Bolongaro. The shop still exists in Stresa today, the Pasticcieria Pompa aforementioned, which can be found on Via Gignous, where it meets with Via P. Tomaso. He created them for the young princess Margherita di Savoia, who would become the future Queen Margherita, on the occasion of her first communion which was celebrated that year. And ever since, the biscotti, typical of Stresa, have been known, sold, and celebrated by the name Margheritine.