Sweet News about Rome's Cavalletti Pasticceria and Millefoglie

If you've been to Rome but you haven't been to Cavalletti then you've missed out on one of the city’s tastiest treats. Cavalletti is a pastry shop, a pasticceria, but this pastry shop focuses on one thing: millefoglie.
Millefoglie literally means '1000 sheets' and although it's not exactly 1000, it's lots and lots of paper-thin delectable sheets of pastry filled with alternating layers of a luscious pastry cream. I've never made it and since I'll be living in Rome probably for the rest of my life I don't really want to learn how because I'd much rather head to Cavalletti where I know I can enjoy the world’s very best millefoglie.
I haven't had this pastry in Tuscany or other Italian locations purported to make some of the very best. And I haven't had mille-feuille in France where it was originally created back in the 1600s but I’m convinced it’s an impossibility to have millefoglie better anywhere else, and once you've been to Cavalletti I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about.
La Stampa, La Repubblica, Class ( Vogue), the Gambero Rosso, Il Veronelli, Roma Conviene and the Guida Rover all have rated Cavalletti one of the top five pastry shops in all of Italy.

The history of Cavalletti

Historically Cavalletti has been a word of mouth treasure shared among Romans and by no means a spot tourists know about. It's off the beaten track nestled in one of Rome’s residential neighborhoods on Via Nemorense just off the Via Salaria and heading towards the beltway leading north out of Rome.
This family owned and run business, operated in the same location for over sixty years until the Covid era. The shop is a small unpretentious storefront and had I not been searching it out I might not have stepped through the door. Friends of ours who used to live in the neighborhood introduced us to Cavalletti's millefoglie and I think they came upon it purely by chance. This part of Via Nemorense is a mixed residential and business neighborhood, overcrowded with cars double and triple parked.

The Cavaletti Pasticceria post-Covid

About six months after our first major COVID-19 lockdown I headed over to Cavalletti to see if it had withstood the economic slam dealt by COVID and lockdown closures. It was closed and after I asked around the neighborhood it looked like it was closed for good.
I'm not sure it came about because I was always on the lookout for a possible Cavalletti resuscitation or if I just happened to read about it by chance but Christian Delle Fave (a man I'd love to hug right now for his intervention), found out about the Cavalletti closure and couldn't let the beloved Cavalletti Pasticceria institution die. He owns and runs a historic and very successful alimentare (all-purpose, small-scale food store) in Rome and he opened a new Cavalletti location in the Vigna Clara neighborhood just down the street from his alimentare, plus he helped keep the historic Via Nemorense location alive.
I was recently in the area and stopped in to check out the new location (it opened about a year and a half ago). It's a more stylish location than Via Nemorense but that's in keeping with the high-end Vigna Clara neighborhood where it's located. High-end aside, the millefoglie are exactly the same and just as delicious.
It turns out plans are to open other Cavalletti Rome locations beginning with the newly opened location in Rome’s Colli Albani neighborhood, and eventually one in the Spanish Steps area. I'll keep store openings updated but in the meantime the next time you're in Rome head to the Via Nemorense, Vigna Clara or Colli Albani shops.
There isn't a Cavalletti website but you can find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Via Nemorense 179-181, Tel. 06-4559-5650 / 06-4559-5651, Open 8 AM to 8 PM

Via di Vigna Stelluti 204, Tel. 06-9357-2260 / 06-9357-2261, Open 9 AM to 8 PM

Largo dei Colli Albani 36, Tel. 06-455-763-000, Open 9 AM to 8 PM

How to slice a Cavalletti millefoglie

The millefoglie I first purchased over a decade ago was the smallest one available: about seven inches wide and close to seven inches high. You need a razor sharp knife to cut it, simply because it's so delicate that applying pressure to the cake with a dull knife will squish out all its delectable fresh cream and zabaione filling.
Alternatively you can use a super-thin, taught piece of wire - the kind you would use for beading – which easily cuts through the millefoglie.

Cavalletti makes millefoglie of all shapes and sizes to satisfy the multitude of orders they receive. Simply based on the the comings and goings of a typical Saturday morning, coupled with the dozens of millefoglie usually on display, they probably make a few hundred daily.
This millefoglie is large enough to serve about fifty people...

In addition to millefoglie, Cavalletti also makes delicious gianduia chocolates, wrapped in metallic blue paper with the company name etched in gold.

Cavalletti is a full fledged pasticceria so in addition to its signature product and its gianduia chocolates you can also buy a tantalizing assortment of other chocolates, small pastries, cakes, jams and enticing fresh cream-filled chocolate cakes decorated with shaved dark chocolate.

Try these delicious millefoglie cookies!

Other delicious food to try in Rome

Try a culinary walking tour of Rome with me!
Try all four of the Rome Roscioli food venues - the bakery, restaurant, coffee bar and then my favorite: Rimessa Roscioli for fantastic food and wine.
For a Michelin star experience with Chef Cristina Bowerman have a meal at Rome's Glass Hosteria.

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I make a small commission on purchases made through links on my website. Prices are identical for you, but purchasing through my links helps support my work to bring you great recipes, podcast episodes, culinary and travel information.