Cova Pastry Shop was founded in 1817, when the soldier Antonio Cova left the service and decided to devote his life to the culinary arts. Not far from the La Scala opera house, he opened a small cafe that stood out for its refined and very delicious desserts. This place immediately became a favorite for many actors, writers, and musicians such as Giuseppe Verdi and Gabriele D’Annunzio.
During the years of the battles for the unification of Italy, meetings of patriots were held here, and in 1929 Ernest Hemingway even mentioned the name of this pastry shop in his novel “A Farewell to Arms!”.
During the Second World War, the cafe building was badly damaged, and in 1950 Cova moved to Milan’s “golden quadrilateral” on via Montenapoleone. This is a historic and very prestigious district, where the four main shopping streets with world-famous boutiques intersect. Thus, a new and no less successful chapter opened in the history of the pastry shop.
The most popular and beloved desserts served at Cova cafe are considered to be the traditional panettone, a Milanese Christmas cake, the Sacher chocolate cake, and all kinds of sweets with handmade patterns. All of this, combined with coffee “from a blend of six varieties of coffee beans,” is the true secret of the success and longevity of Milan’s Cova pastry shop.
