Florence, a city rich in culinary traditions and seasonal desserts, is now welcoming a revolution: Cortese Café, the city's first raw, vegan, and gluten-free patisserie, crafted by the talented pastry chef Vito Cortese.
Let's start from the beginning: Vito Cortese, a well-known pastry chef in Italy, chose Florence as the foundation for his vision, opening the first raw patisserie in the city, Cortese Café 900, in 2021. The café is located within the newly renovated spaces of the Museo del Novecento's café, from which it takes its name. Vito Cortese's decision to focus on this type of patisserie stems from a desire to offer desserts that perfectly blend health, pleasure, and respect for the environment.
The foundations of Vito Cortese's raw patisserie
Raw patisserie respects ingredients in their most natural form, without cooking or heat treatments exceeding 42 degrees Celsius. The goal is to preserve the nutritional properties of the ingredients through processes like dehydration and fermentation, using the resulting textures to create various preparations.
The main ingredients used include:
- Nuts such as cashews, hazelnuts, and pecans
- Raw cocoa
- Gluten-free oats
- Sweeteners like coconut sugar, maple syrup, or agave syrup
They all share a common trait: they are organic and, whenever possible, sourced from Italy.
The desserts created by Vito Cortese are ethical, sustainable, raw, gluten-free, lactose-free, and egg-free. But with all these "frees," are they also delicious?
Absolutely yes, and we'll tell you all about it from the new flagship store of Cortese Café, recently opened between Piazza Pitti and Ponte Vecchio, while enjoying a cream-filled croissant and a pecan shortbread cookie.
The new store features an open-view kitchen and an even greater focus on the environment, starting with the choice of materials used to reduce waste and environmental impact: the upstairs tables are made of paperstone compressed with cashew oil, and the counter is crafted from raw earth.
On the walls, the sun motif often appears, and it's not by chance or just a design choice: in the kitchen, there is one product that breaks the raw rule and is baked at a temperature that never exceeds that of the sun—mentioned earlier: the croissant. In fact, the new croissants, available in both sweet and savory versions, were born after years of experimentation.
Sweet, savory, ice cream: as long as it's raw, or almost
Alongside the sweet offerings—featuring raw cookies, "crudotti," cocoa truffles, tartlets, cheesecakes, tiramisu, and other delectable creations like the hazelnut emblem—there is also a savory selection, available in cooked form: from filled croissants to quiches made with spinach and macadamia nut ricotta, or carrots, curry, and cashew cheese.
Not to mention the raw ice cream: here, every lactose-intolerant person will feel like they’re in paradise, with classic flavors like hazelnut, chocolate, and almond—which are almost never lactose-free in traditional gelaterias—and more unique options like coconut stracciatella, salted caramel, cappuccino, licorice, and fig swirl. Even the choice of coffee aligns with the overall philosophy: Vito Cortese has selected Caffè Haiti, an organic and fair-trade Roman roastery.
