Traditional Zuppa Inglese

Italian Dessert History

Zuppa Inglese: The Controversial Origin of Its Name

One of the first controversies surrounding this famous Italian dessert begins with its name. It is called zuppa, or “soup,” yet it is served cold as a layered dessert. The explanation comes from the older meaning of the word: zuppa, from the Gothic suppa, refers to a soaked slice of bread. In that sense, Zuppa Inglese fully earns its name, because sponge cake or ladyfingers must be soaked in a liquid—traditionally a liqueur such as alchermes, rum, rosolio, maraschino, or another aromatic syrup.

The second controversy concerns the adjective inglese, or “English.” Some historians believe Zuppa Inglese is an Italian reinterpretation of the English trifle, which is also built in layers of sponge cake or biscuits soaked in alcohol and enriched with custard or cream. Others connect the name to the use of a softer custard, more fluid than Italian pastry cream because it lacks the same quantity of starch or flour.

In The English Woman in Italy (1860), British expatriate Gladys Gretton described a local dessert called Zuppa Inglese while living in the Marche region. She did not present it as a British dessert; instead, she treated it as part of the local Italian table, with rum helping explain the “English” association through the spirit’s connection to English sailors and trade.

Zuppa Inglese: A Dessert Without a Single Crown

Dictionaries and culinary references do not completely agree, so the history remains fragmented. Some define it simply as ladyfingers soaked in liqueur and layered with cream. Others include fruit preserves, whipped cream, alchermes, custard, or chocolate cream. Darra Goldstein’s Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets describes it as the Italian version of the English trifle and gives Naples as one possible origin, while other traditions point strongly toward Marche and Tuscany.

The Possible Marche Origin

The Marche theory is supported by the fact that Gladys Gretton referred to Zuppa Inglese as a regional dessert. Another important trace appears in the anonymous cookbook Il Cuoco Perfetto Marchigiano (1891), where a version of the dessert is prepared with sponge cake soaked in rosolio and rum, then layered with a cream flavored with cinnamon and lemon.

Is Zuppa Inglese Tuscan?

The Tuscan origin is supported by writers such as Fernanda Gosetti in Il Dolcissimo (1984), and by Silvano Serventi and Françoise Sabban in Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food (2002). According to this tradition, Zuppa Inglese may have evolved from Zuppa del Duca, or “Duke’s Soup,” a noble dessert associated with Siena. This version included ladyfingers or sponge cake soaked in alchermes, pastry cream, chocolate cream, whipped cream, meringue, and cocoa.

The legend says the dessert was served in 1552 to the Duke of Correggio by Cosimo de’ Medici in Siena. When it returned to Florence, it became associated with Caffè Doney, a fashionable establishment popular with English visitors. They enjoyed it so much that, according to the story, the dessert eventually became known as Zuppa Inglese.

Pellegrino Artusi, in Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891), classified Zuppa Inglese as a Tuscan dessert and described it as a preparation firm enough to be unmolded from its container. This supports the use of true pastry cream, thicker than a classic crème anglaise.

Florence also strengthens the Tuscan claim through the use of alchermes, the brilliant red aromatic liqueur still connected to the city and historically prepared by the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella according to Fra’ Cosimo Bucelli’s 1743 recipe.

Whether born in Marche, Tuscany, Naples, or through the influence of English trifle, Zuppa Inglese remains one of Italy’s most fascinating layered desserts: a spoon dessert of soaked cake, pastry cream, liqueur, regional memory, and centuries of culinary debate.