Tiramisu, or ‘pick-me-up’ – ¬¬so named because of its reputed aphrodisiac powers – was born in Italy although nobody is quite certain where. Tuscany or Veneto, though, are the likeliest of the many claimants to be the birthplace of the archetypal Italian dessert. Several legends attempt to explain tiramisu’s origins and the most credible comes from late seventeenth century Siena, where the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de Medici, had a residence.The town’s confectioners decided to create a sweet to honour the Grand Duke which had to be simple yet delicious and Tiramisu or, as it was originally known, duke’s soup, was born. The Grand Duke was so enamoured of the new dessert that he took its recipe with him to Florence but not before it had become a favourite with the courtiers thanks to its rumoured aphrodisiac nature. The sweet’s popularity spread beyond Tuscany to Treviso, Venice and beyond and with ardent couples enjoying duke’s soup before their romantic trysts it soon took on its more familiar and playfully seductive modern name, tiramisu.
The most believable one set the birth of Tiramisu at the end of XVII Century in Siena, where the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de’ Medici, decided to settle down for a while in town. The confectioners thought to made a sweet in honour of the Grand Duke. It should been a sweet important but simple and tasty at the same time. And then Tiramisu was made, at the time so called “Duke’s Soup”. Cosimo really appreciated the confectioners’ skill and the delicious sweet taste and brought the receipt to Florence. “The Duke’s Soup” became popular over the Tuscany’s borders, heading to Treviso and then Venice.
The legend tells that it became the courtiers’ favorite sweet for its exciting and aphrodisiac power.The habit to eat a lot of that sweet before any sexual date spread very soon. And so the “Duke’s Soup” changed the name in the more allusive Tiramisu (= “pick me up”).