"Tucked down the echoing halls of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Palermo is a tiny, emblem-covered room where local pastry chefs pump out countless fresh cannoli, cakes, and cookies every day. The bakery or "dolceria" is part of a project called "I Segreti del Chiostro", which translates to "The Secrets of the Cloister." Many of Sicily's signature desserts can be traced back to cloistered nuns, who would sell sweets to aristocracy to support their monasteries."
"When you finally make your way through the line at I Segreti del Chiostro, you'll be faced with two long counters that wrap the small room in an L-shape. This is the cannoli-making station, where multiple pastry chefs stand in a line behind towering plates of crisp, golden pastry shells and bowls of toppings like crushed pistachios, chocolate chips, and strips of candied orange. The women pipe and sugar the cannoli with military speed and precision,"
Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Palermo contains a small emblem-covered dolceria where pastry chefs produce fresh cannoli, cakes, and cookies daily. The bakery operates as I Segreti del Chiostro to recreate recipes developed by cloistered nuns who sold sweets to aristocracy from 1311 through the 1980s. Everything is made fresh using ancient recipes and time-honored techniques to preserve traditional baking methods. The shop reopened in 2019 and drew international attention, attracting tourists, pastry chefs, and social media visitors. The cannoli station features multiple chefs assembling shells and finishing them with toppings such as pistachios, chocolate chips, and candied orange.
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