The Local (Italy)
February 28, 2014
By Sophie Inge
The Italian restaurant credited with inventing Tiramisù — one of the most famous desserts in the world — is to close down as Italy's financial crisis continues to take its toll.
File photo: nicubunu.photo/Flickr
Family-run restaurant Le Beccherie in Treviso, northern Italy, which first opened its doors in 1939, will take its last orders on March 30th, Corriere della Sera reported on Thursday.
In the 1970s the restaurant’s former owners Ada and Aldo Campeol and pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto were credited with inventing one of Italy’s most famous culinary exports — Tiramisù. Translating literally as “pick-me-up”, the creamy coffee-flavoured dessert consists of ladyfingers dipped in coffee layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese flavoured with cocoa.
Despite the dessert's roaring international success the business is now set to close. Carlo Campeol, Le Beccherie’s current owner and son of the dessert’s inventors, blamed the financial crisis for the closure.
“There has been a fall in [the number of] customers,” he told Corriere della Sera. “There are no more politicians, businesses or general public [coming here].” Instead of dining out at restaurants people are choosing to go to bars for extended “aperitivi”, he complained. “Today you can buy food in news agents and bars. At wholesalers they offer delicious pre-prepared dishes to cook in the microwave for €1.50 each. And there are no checks, there are no standards to be met,” he continued.
Commenting on the closure, Luca Zaia, Veneto’s president said: “This is news, that I didn’t want to read, that marks the end, not just a piece of Treviso’s history, but more generally the closing of a page in the gastronomic culture of the world.”
The restaurant, which has in the past been a popular place for birthday celebrations, anniversaries, business lunches, politicians, stars, tourists and sportsmen, was first opened on September 1st 1939, the day of the outbreak of the Second World War.
While the closure is a sad era in the restaurant's history, the owner intends to continue to contribute to the restaurant business. “Now I will try and teach others about all the mistakes to avoid. Do you know, what the biggest mistake was? Letting myself get carried away by my emotions, by tradition, by the history started by my grandfather and continued by my parents’ generation. In this business there are two types of people: ruthless entrepreneurs and restaurateurs guided by passion. I belong to the last category.”