What’s on an Italian Breakfast Plate? Spoiler: It’s Yummy & Easy!

Italian cuisine is famous for pasta, pizza and long, leisurely dinners but what about the first meal of the day? Unlike the hearty, savoury breakfasts found in other cultures, the Italian breakfast or colazione, is light, sweet, and wonderfully simple.The traditional Italian breakfast isn’t built around eggs, bacon, or toast. Instead, it focuses on quick, comforting foods paired with coffee or milk. It’s often eaten standing up at a café bar or briefly at home before heading out.

A typical Italian breakfast includes a cup of coffee (espresso, cappuccino or caffè latte) and a croissant (cornetto) or sweet biscuit. But do you know the origin of croissant and the difference between croissant and cornetto? 

Though the cornetto and croissant look similar at first glance - both golden, crescent-shaped pastries, they have distinct origins and cultural significance. One is rooted in Italian breakfast tradition, the other in French culinary history. Yet both share a surprising connection to Austria. 

The earliest ancestor of both the cornetto and croissant is the Kipferl, a crescent-shaped pastry from Austria, dating back to the 13th century. It was a simple, slightly sweet bread, often made with nuts or other regional ingredients. According to legend the Kipferl became symbolic during the 1683 Battle of Vienna, when the city resisted an Ottoman siege. To celebrate victory, Viennese bakers allegedly shaped pastries like the Islamic crescent moon, creating a symbolic way to "devour the enemy."

While this story is debated by historians, the connection between crescent-shaped pastries and Austria is well established.

The croissant as we know it today is a French reinterpretation of the Kipferl. In the late 18th century Austrian baker August Zang opened a Viennese bakery in Paris, introducing French society to these crescent pastries. French bakers refined the recipe using layers of laminated dough and butter to create a lighter, flakier texture. This transformation gave birth to the modern croissant: crisp on the outside, airy and buttery within. While France turned the Kipferl into the croissant, Italy followed its own path. In Northern Italy, especially Venice and Milan, bakers developed the cornetto - sometimes called brioche in Southern Italy.

The cornetto is:

•        Softer and less buttery than the croissant
•        Slightly sweeter and often flavoured with vanilla or citrus zest
•        Frequently filled with pastry cream, jam, chocolate or pistachio

Today, you can enjoy authentic cornetti from the comfort of your own kitchen. At ItalianSupermarkets.com you’ll find a curated selection of Italian breakfast pastries, including:

•        Bauli Croissants with Chocolate Cream
•        Mulino Bianco Whole Wheat Croissants
•        Croissant alla Crema Pasticcera

Simply warm them in the oven for a few minutes to recreate the Italian bar experience.