Until not long ago, except in very few places, to eat a maritozzo You had to fly to Rome and there, near Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele, go for example to Regoli, one of the city’s canonical pastry shops where you could have it. A bun, similar to a round brioche, opened in half and filled with cream, which now, thanks in large part to the globalizing power of social networks, can be found in London, Madrid, Ankara or Quito.
To look for a known simile, the maritozzo It resembles a cream shoe. It only resembles, because, in reality, the gastronomic communicator Anna Mayer assures that the Italian is not very sweet, “a very light and spongy brioche, filled with pasteurized fresh cream that should not contain (or almost) sugar.” “You play with the balance of everything. How do they do it now…”, says the Italian, from a Roman family and known as Bread Panna.
The Italian capital’s own official tourism website dedicates an entry to him to this sweet of origin in ancient Rome, as they explain, and whose name comes from “a popular nickname from the alteration of the word husband.” Furthermore, on the page they refer to the recently popularized story, according to which, behind the bun there would be a romantic custom: “In the 19th century, during the first Friday of March of each year, then known as Valentine’s Day. In love, the young betrothed gave small sweet rolls to their fiancées. Breads used to be decorated with small sugar hearts, hiding inside a ring or other gold jewel. By tradition, and to test their culinary competence, unmarried maidens also prepared the maritozzi (plural) that presented the singles on duty, who chose their future wives, evaluating the cake that had been best given to them. Asked about this story, the Italian gastronomic communicator Anna Mayer says she is unaware of it. “The Romans live oblivious to this,” she clarifies, although the version spreads thanks, in large part, to its dissemination on social networks.
Perhaps because the workshops look more to northern Europe and France for inspiration, the truth is that finding maritozzo In Spain, today, it is not so easy. There are two workshops in Madrid that have it for sale, although not every day, nor at all times of the year. The first to put it in the showcases were, back in 2019, Alberto and Guido Miragoli in one hundred and thirty degrees, with a recipe that they started from scratch and that they define as a brioche dough, but with less fat and egg load than a traditional brioche, and that they fill, in the most classic version, with fresh whipped cream. “If I think about maritozzo“I think of Rome,” says Alberto Miragoli, in charge of the bakery, who explains that he and his brother have a personal connection with the bun due to their Roman origins. They sell it only on weekends, as part of their most special pastry offering, and in addition to the traditional one filled with cream, they have tried other versions such as truffle and hazelnut cream; sautéed strawberries with whipped cream (reminiscent of a Gambara dessert from San Sebastian); and chestnut paste with cream and a touch of armagnac, reminiscent of the Mont Blanc dessert. They sell them for 3 and 3.50 euros.
They also make it, although it goes in and out of the display case as a temporary product, in Acid Coffee. With two establishments in Madrid and one in Berlin, in addition to the traditional cream, here they incorporate coffee of Brazilian origin and hazelnuts. In Maison Glacée, although they call it bamba de nata, the truth is that it is a version very close to the Roman creation, with a lightly sweetened cream whipped at the moment. And it can also be found for four euros in Aliter Dulcia, a bakery led by Isabel Pérez in Gijón and specialized in “international pastries”. “I have a special personal and professional relationship with Italy and Italian sweets have always been present in our displays. He maritozzo It is one of the emblems of Rome and we make it according to the traditional recipe and always with the panna, in the Roman way,” says Pérez, who also has a degree in Art History. The recipe in question can be found in the book Souvenir (Col&Col)the bakery’s second of a total of five published
The maritozzi They have crossed the Italian Alps to spread throughout Europe, in some cases, through single-product businesses dedicated only to the marketing of this sweet. This happens, for example, in Dolce VyTA, by pastry chef Matteo Manzotti, and located in London’s Covent Garden market. Their versions of the Roman bun are among the most shared on social networks such as Instagram and TikTok and appear in the rankings created by content creators as one of the desserts to try in the British capital. In addition to the classic one with cream – to which they add Madagascar vanilla here – there is no shortage of pistachio ones, with strawberries, limited editions with cherries and the possibility of dipping them in hot chocolate or pistachio cream. The Piccola Deli, in the Kensington neighborhood, also offers a version filled with cream with pieces of pistachio.
New York, Ankara, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Quito… the maritozzo Its conquest continues and around it, on platforms like TikTok, all types of content are generated. From the search for the best in Rome, to publications that challenge you to eat a meal in 30 minutes. maritozzo of a kilo. However, the façade that is most repeated among all the related photographs and videos continues to be that of Regoli, the classic pastry shop in Rome. “Now a product lights the fuse and spreads like fire if it works. Even if it is not incredible, perhaps it seems so because you take it in the place from which it originates. Once you take it outwards and universalize it, you run the risk of saying it’s not a big deal,” says Anna Mayer. To anyone visiting the Italian capital, she recommends taking a maritozzo. “My family went to Romoli or Regoli. Roscioli works very well in baking and pastry.”
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