The Competing Origin Stories Behind Tiramisu

One of Italy's most famous dishes, tiramisu (which translates as "pick me up") is decadent yet refined, sweet yet not overtly so, and has just enough variation of texture to keep every luscious bite interesting. While it hails from the Boot, its captivating flavor has made its way around the world, with Americans especially taking to the sweet treat: Witness the enormous 2-lb. tiramisu tray from Costco and its No.1 ranking on the list of desserts ordered from Grubhub in 2022. But did you know that not only is tiramisu a relatively recent creation, but also one with an origin story that historians aren't able to nail down?

One version of the tiramisu tale begins in 1955 in a northeastern Italian town called Treviso (near Venice, which is called the Veneto region). A woman there by the name of Alba Campeol sought to recreate the flavors of an Italian dessert called zabaglione when she ate it while drinking a cup of coffee. She collaborated with the chef of the restaurant she owned, Le Beccherie, and by 1972 it was on the menu, listed as "Tiramesù." (Strangely, it is her husband, Ado, who recently died at the age of 93, who is credited as "the father of tiramisu.")

The second tiramisu origin story also takes place in the 1950s, though in the Udine region, just a bit farther northeast from Treviso. This area is mountainous, with the Alps flanking it to the north, and the legend goes that Norma Pielli, a chef working at the Albergo Roma hotel, wrote down a tiramisu recipe in 1959, and would serve it to people who had come to hike the local terrain.

These competing tiramisu legends existed alongside one another, though the Le Beccherie dessert seemingly had the upper-hand as the broadly agreed-upon true origin. But in 2017, the Italian government shook things up when they proclaimed the Udine region's version a prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale (PAT), or Traditional Agri-food Product. This seemingly made Udine the "official" birthplace of tiramisu, and the Veneto camp had words. However, in March 2024, the tiramisu of Treviso was also recognized and honored with PAT status — let this be the end of the strife!

Naturally, when discussing the food of a country as old and storied as Italy — which, incidentally, only came to be a singular country, rather than a scattering of kingdoms, in the 19th century — the legends surrounding such popular dishes as tiramisu reach back further than the 1950s. There is a story that a forerunner of this dessert was created in the late 1600s or early 1700s when Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici visited Siena, one of the cities he ruled. His consumption of it led to a nickname, "zuppa del duca," or "The Duke's Soup."

There is also a scandalous legend that tiramisu did indeed originate in Treviso, but over a century earlier than at Le Beccherie. The story goes that the dessert was invented by a clever madam in a brothel in the town center. She would offer it to gentlemen who had finished their, ahem, entertainment, and had to go home to their wives. Since it wouldn't do for them to get home and not be able to "perform" for their spouses after their joust in the house of pleasure, this enterprising woman marketed the sweet treat as an invigorator (wink, wink). "Pick me up," indeed.