Cannolo is a fried tube of pasta-frolla shell filled to order with sweetened sheep's-milk ricotta, candied citrus, chocolate chips and crushed pistachios, the most exported Palermitan sweet.
Cannolo originated in the Sicilian Arab kingdom around the 10th century as a carnival treat; its form (the tube around a horizontal stick) traces to Arab pastry technique. Sicilian convents of Caltanissetta and Palermo refined it through the 18th century. The pasticceria Bar Alba and Cappello fill cannoli to order, which is the only correct way to serve them.
3 editor picks for Cannolo Siciliano in Palermo, ranked by editorial score. All Palermo signature dishes · Cannolo Siciliano across every city.
Pasticceria Cappello ★ 4.7
albergheria · Via Colonna Rotta 68, 90134 Palermo
Pasticceria Cappello on Via Colonna Rotta is home to the Sicilian Setteveli, Palermo's defining seven-veil chocolate cake refined by Salvatore Cappello AMPI master, served with espresso through the day.
I Segreti del Chiostro ★ 4.6
loggia · Piazza Bellini 2, 90133 Palermo
The dolceria inside the Santa Caterina d'Alessandria monastery on Piazza Bellini in Palermo serves convent-recipe Sicilian sweets with espresso in the historic cloister setting.
Bar Pasticceria Alba ★ 4.5
liberta · Piazza Don Bosco 7/C, 90143 Palermo
Bar Alba on Piazza Don Bosco in Palermo since 1955 is the city's reference cafe-pasticceria for breakfast, granita with brioche col tuppo and afternoon espresso among the residential quarter.