Cafés and bakeries in Palermo

Cafés and pastry shops in Palermo do far more than coffee: cannoli, cassata, marzipan fruit and, in summer, granita with a brioche for breakfast. Among the historic pastry shops, Pasticceria Mazzara is near the Teatro Massimo, and Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote The Leopard at its tables; Antico Caffè Spinnato is on the pedestrian stretch of Via Principe di Belmonte; Pasticceria Cappello, near Porta Nuova, is known for the setteveli, a seven-layer chocolate cake first made there. Inside the Santa Caterina monastery, I Segreti del Chiostro bakes from the nuns' old recipes. A good cannolo is filled while you wait.

A mid-morning pastry stop fits well between two nearby sights; the planner can slot it in.