Panzerotti bakery counter in Duomo, Milan

Luini

Pugliese Pockets Behind the Duomo

3.5 of 5

Milan is supposed to be about saffron risotto and men in very good shoes. The most dependable lunch in town is a fried pocket of dough from Puglia. Giuseppina Luini moved north with her family in 1949, took over the bakery at Via Santa Radegonda 16 and spent the early years supplying bread to restaurants and hotels around the centre. Then she copied out her grandfather's recipes, found the one for panzerotti, and started frying a few for a city that had never heard of them.

The city caught on. The shop says the kids who came for panzerotti on school breaks now bring their own children, which is the only marketing a counter like this will ever need. The dough is still a family secret, held by her son and grandchildren, and everything is made to order, so whatever you get is hot. There is a fried version, a baked one and a sweet one. Milan gave Luini its Ambrogino in 1988, Lombardy recognised it as a historic shop in 2006, and the chamber of commerce handed it a gold medal in 2007.

This is not a sit-down lunch. You eat standing a few steps from the Duomo, with oil on your fingers and a paper napkin that has given up. Order a fried one first. If you are still hungry, and you will be, try the baked one and finish with the sweet. A former road warrior learns that the best lunch in a business district is the one you eat with your hands.

Order this

A fried panzerotto, first and hot, The baked panzerotto, for comparison, A sweet one to finish

The damage

$

Go

Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; a standing lunch on the pavement

Find it

Via Santa Radegonda 16, 20121 Milano

Website

luini.it