Where to find the best bread in Italy: the Gambero Rosso Guide

We are the smallest consumers of bread in Europe but now we are beginning to appreciate quality bread. Lombardy is the most awarded Region. The south lags far behind

Ne we consume about 41 kilos each year just over 110 grams per day. Italians certainly love bread, but, surprise, much less than other European peoples. I Romanians they consume twice as much 88 kilos per capita per year, the Germans 80, the Dutch 57 kilos, the Poles 52, the Spaniards 47, the French 44, even the United Kingdom surpasses us with 43 kilos per capita.

Among the trends that emerged from a survey presented by Italmopa, the Association of Industrial Millers of Italy, during the Conference “The new bread consumption trends in Italy. The drivers that guide consumer choice”, it emerges that 24% of Italians intend to increase their consumption of bread made from organic flours, while 19% intend to focus on ancient grain flours and 18% on stone-ground flours.

In short, consumers are very clear that the quality is a determining factor in directing their bread choices. It confirms it Gambero Rosso Bread & Bakers Guide 2023 who selected i best bakers in Italy highlighting the needs of the market and how the sector adapts to the choices of the consumer in a constant relationship of exchange and sharing of skills between farmers, mills, biologists, chemists and agronomists. A virtuous circle that benefits the consumer. Consumers are now more attentive to taste and health and are willing to invest in quality products: good, ethical and sustainable bread cannot cost less than 7 euros per kilo. "Consumers are increasingly attentive to a diet that focuses on health" - says the CEO Luigi Salerno - "with our guides we help to discover the professionals of the food and wine sector, from large producers to master craftsmen who skilfully transform ingredients into works of taste."

Meanwhile, from the more than 60 new products and 54 bakeries awarded with the maximum score of the Tre Pani, it emerges that the quality of Italian bread-making is constantly increasing, seasonal experiments have multiplied, the result of skilful mixes of savory and sweet ingredients that have made bread ever more intriguing. The intelligent mediation between tradition and technology, between nature and science has ensured that bread, both in the "simplest" and in the most "complex" forms, presents incredible nuances of aroma and flavor to the palate.

The ranking of the best bakeries in the Italian regions: 8 awards in Lombardy

It ranks among the Italian regions at the top Lombardy with 8 award-winning bakeries followed by Piedmont with 7, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Lazio with 6. The south falls behind with Sicily and Puglia which only win 4 prizes, Campania with 3. Followed by Tuscany and the Marches with 2; Valle d'Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Abruzzo, Basilicata and Sardinia with 1.

Beyond the regional classification, the Gambero Rosso Guide has awarded three special prizes that record this year's excellence and they went for Bread and territory to Bio heart of bread - Cabella Ligure [AL]; for the Bakery at L'atelier del pane – Triuggio Cerere; for the emerging baker in Chiere di Piacenza.