Roberto Linguanotto, creator of Tiramisu, passes away at the age of 81

Roberto Linguanotto, the popular Italian pastry chef, who is believed to be the man behind the invention of the globally popular dessert Tiramisu, passed away on Sunday at the age of 81. The chef created the iconic dish working at Alle Beccherie, a famous restaurant in northern Italy’s Treviso in the early 1970s.

Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto Region, paid tribute to Roberto Linguanotto on Instagram and wrote, “I join in mourning for the passing of Roberto ‘Loli’ Linguanotto, pastry chef who marked the breakthrough of the Trevigiana and Veneta pastry shop by rediscovering and relaunching tiramisu, a traditional product today of culinary excellence recognized worldwide. The credit for a success of such a scale also goes to his pastry mastery and his willingness to make our Venetian delicacy unique and inimitable. To his family and friends, as well as those who appreciated him, my closeness and sympathy goes to him.”

Gigi Padovani, a journalist and close friend of Roberto’s close friend, who wrote, ‘Tiramisu’ with his wife, Clara, told The Sun, “In no time, that dessert became a staple at Le Beccherie. It was served on a round tray with ladyfingers soaked in coffee and two layers of cream and mascarpone. A few years later, in 1983, the tiramisu recipe was published in a Treviso gastronomic magazine for the first time. Le Beccherie then took it to Venice and later spread it around the world. From the 1990s onwards, the dessert became famous everywhere."

During its inception, Tiramisu was made with just six ingredients – eggs, savoiardi (ladyfingers), sugar, mascarpone, coffee and cocoa.