Pasticceria Tonolo

Pasticceria Tonolo is a pastry shop and café on Crosera San Pantalon in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, near Campo Santa Margherita, in Italy's Veneto region. It has been open since 1886 and is regarded as a venerated pastry institution in the city, with a reputation for the best tiramisu in Venice. It is a working pastry shop rather than a sit-down café: most customers order at the counter and eat standing, or take pastries away. The kitchen turns out classic Venetian and northern Italian sweets rather than anything reinvented for tourists, and the shop has been a fixture for the university crowd in this part of Dorsoduro for decades. The signature items are the tiramisu, the frittelle veneziane, the fried Carnival doughnuts sold only in the weeks around Carnival, and cream-filled pastries. Coffee is served at the counter in the Italian manner alongside the pastry, making it a natural breakfast stop. The atmosphere is busy and brisk, with a steady flow of regulars, students and visitors, and little space to linger; noise is the noise of a crowded counter. Dress is casual. Opening hours run Tuesday to Saturday from 7:45AM to 8PM and Sunday from 7:45AM to 1PM, and the shop is closed on Monday. Reservations are not accepted, as it is a standing café only. Prices are low ($), in line with a coffee and pastry in Italy, though tiramisu and specialty items cost more than a plain brioche. There is very little seating, so it works best as a stop rather than a sit-down breakfast. It sits close to the Scuola Grande dei Carmini and the San Pantalon church, so it pairs well with a morning of sightseeing in western Dorsoduro.