Found this by accident on my way down from Etna. I was looking for ice cream, but I was pleasantly…read moresurprised by what I ended up finding. This place serves the most delicious cakes, I have tasted in years. Personally, I had the Sachertorte, and it is served with whipped cream and a scoop of their homemade chocolate ice cream. All of it really great. I had a small taste of the Pistachio cake, which was just as good, and yes, it was served with a scoop of homemade pistachio ice cream. The service was super nice, but only a few words of English is spoken, and only slightly more is understood. However, the menu itself is easily understandable for a non-italian speaker, so it really isn't an issue at all. The place itself is Beautiful with a capital B. It doesn't look that special from the outside, but take a step inside, at be amazed. The interior is all clean and white, and there are several seating areas both inside and outside in their little small and green yard. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to snap any pictures, so you have to believe me on this.

True story: We ordered two cannolis because we thought "Oh we should share." It was so good I went…read moreback and ordered a second for myself. Need I say more?

When you are in Italy, you must try Cannoli of course! There is a bunch of sweets there but I only…read moregot Cannoli with 2 flavors: pistachio and almond. It is so good! It is pretty huge, can be shared for 2 people. It is a small cute bakery, no seating. Great service.

This was quite the happening place when our party arrived in the afternoon. Tables were filled and…read moreit took a moment for us to get seated. After being seated, we were never provided a menu of any sort and actually sat for several minutes before someone came by for our order, still with no menu. Regardless, we knew we were ordering granitas, brioche, and the arancini. Granitas - They verbally gave us a limited list of what flavors were available. We tried the almond, strawberry, pistachio, and limon. All flavors were delicious, not overly sweet, and very refreshing. A lighter more slush like version of gelato. Brioche - The brioche here is light and delicious, served warm, and is an amazing accompaniment to granitas. Definitely order one to balance out the granita if it gets too cold. Arancini - The ragu arancini is absolutely amazing. It was actually the better of the three items ordered in my opinion. I came for the desserts, but found myself fully enjoying this item more. The ragu is hearty and the flavors robust. A masticating delight of flavors. If you're not a smoker, definitely try to top for a seat indoors. Sitting outdoors will likely expose you to several patrons and even passersby or individuals sitting on nearby benches to cigarette smoke. Overall, the food and desserts here are amazing. I wish I had the stomach and time to try more of what they had to offer. Everything looked amazing and all seemed to be very reasonably priced.

Aperitivo was lovely. We stopped in for a spritz/beer and a light snack. The spritz came with…read moreaperitivo snacks. Then we ordered an arancino to enjoy since theirs are famous! The Hugo spritz was decent. Not the best but not bad. The snacks were yummy and the large beer came in a wine bottle. Perfect little place to sit and relax before walking through the park. Staff was friendly and the inside is clean. Next time I want to dry some of the desserts. Everything looked delicious

This is a wonderful little dessert shop just next to the Chiesa di Santa Lucia alla badia, so if…read moreyou are in Palazzo Arcivescovile you can't miss it! They have 4 different options for Cannoli the plain, lemon, chocolate and pistachio and two sizes Small "piccolo" or Large "grande". I would suggest if you have to wait a while for dinner consider the grande option! Prices start from 2 euros upto 3.5 so it's a fairly good price for a decent Cannoli, I went with the pistachio one in a small size as I didn't want to ruin my appetite.

Great take out pizza place with decent prices. The pizza is cut into square slices, with a variety…read moreof toppings available. All very delicious. They make and sell fresh bread also. 3 pizzas of 24 slices each costed around €42, which would be enough to feed 10-12 people at least.

Very good cannoli. I stick with the ricotta but they had some cream ones with different flavors too.read more

Closed- no longer in business restrictions in place we walked off the beaten path to find this…read moreplace, but then it was closed

If you are looking for "Saint Agatha's tits" (sorry, I am not making this up, I am quoting directly…read moreas they are called "minnuzzi ri Sant'Àjita" in Sicilian dialect), you must visit the "best pasticceria" (pastry shop) in Catania, I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza. In a nondescript building in a piazza just off of Via Vittorio Emanuele (they actually have four locations in Catania), my Sicilian wife was looking for Minnuzzi di Sant'Agata (aka St. Agatha's tits - it's a long story), a Catanese specialty, to take to her relatives in Erice (near Trapani). I mean no disrespect as I am only telling you the story of Saint Agatha's breasts as told by Sicilians. The short version being that Saint Agatha's breasts were torn from her body during her martyrdom and she is now the patron saint of breast cancer patients as well as Mount Etna. The Catania Duomo (cathedral) is also named after this venerated 3rd Century saint. How the tradition of cakes in the shape of breasts and fondly called "St Agatha's Tits" (translated from Sicilian dialect) came to be is unknown to me or any of the locals I talked to. The ricotta filled pastries bearing her name actually look like a lovely white breast, red nipple and all. You can apparently only get these extremely sweet pasties, I mean pastries, during the Christmas season and around her name day (February 5th). The filling is sweet ricotta and covered by an extremely sweet sugar-based shell, topped with a red confection in the shape of a nipple. If you eat them the right way, like a pizza, with more filling than sugary shell, they are actually quite tasty. After all, I never tasted a tit I did not like (sorry Saint Agatha, I could not help myself). Anyway, back to I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza ... The shop, which was recommended and known by every local we talked to, sits on the side of a piazza and looks quite small, even smaller as you first walk in. But if you walk up the stairs to your left, you enter the first large room filled with cookies and candies. Go around the corner to the next big room filled with cakes and St. Agatha's breasts, both large and small. At €2.50 ($3) a pop, St. Agatha's breasts are not a cheap treat. It is, reportedly, the "best" pasticceria in Catania, but the prices I saw were rather high and not a "great value" in my eyes. CombatCritic Gives I Dolco Di Nonna Vincenza 7 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Breasts, I Mean Bombs, Are Better!

Lindt heaven! This store has so many flavors of Lindt…read moreChocolate to choose from. My favorite is the cafe that is served with a chocolate spoon.