Rome | Talking Pastries

To call Bocca di Dama a cake shop would be a trifle dismissive. A feast for the eyes, BDD has become a brand, producing, serving and marketing haute pâtisserie from a delightful shabby-chic shop in Rome‘s buzzing San Lorenzo quarter just a stones throw from the Pastificio San Lorenzo. 

Founders Simonetta (architect) and Amalia (from the world of marketing) started with traditional family recipes and top-of-the-range ingredients, but welcomed inspiration from the great French pâtissiers and further afield. They addressed food design, seriously attractive presentation and creative packaging. And they believe in food as a means of communication.

That much is evident in Via dei Marsi, hard by the Aurelian Wall, where an open hi-tech workshop turns out an exuberant range of fancy cakes, pastries and desserts which varies with the seasons, but also jams, biscuits and ice cream, and lately savoury bites too. There’s plenty of  room to sit down, for breakfast, a sweet snack, brunch or evening aperitifs on Sundays, surrounded by the goodies on display, art on show and diverse design items on sale in light and lofty spaces.

It’s another instance of what Italians do so well: a traditional craft enhanced by a contemporary design slant and canny marketing. No wonder they cater for the all the great and the good in Rome.

Small is beautiful, but Bocca di Dama has now become part of something bigger. It’s expanding, with more shops coming soon, more branded products off premises, more catering and events, a pâtisserie and food design school, and even shopping on line…

Pop into the original BDD before it’s too late, and relish a little iced almond cake with a rosette on top, a bocca di dama, made on the premises.