‘Father of tiramisu’ who made the dessert a global favourite
ADO CAMPEOL, who has died aged 93, was a restaurateur in the Veneto region of northern Italy credited as the “father of tiramisu”, the cholesterol-rich pudding of sponge fingers dipped in coffee (and often alcohol), layered with whipped eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese and topped with cocoa powder.
Though there is some dispute as to whether he actually invented it, Campeol certainly promoted the dish, helping it on its way to becoming a staple dessert on the menus of Italian trattorie and eventually supermarket shelves around the world.
Campeol’s version was that in 1969 his wife, Alba, was preparing ice cream in the kitchen of their Treviso restaurant Le Beccherie with his head chef, Roberto Linguanotto, when one of them accidentally dropped a spoonful of mascarpone cheese into the sugar and egg yolk mixture.
The result was so delicious that the three of them worked together to incorporate it into a dessert, layering it with sponge fingers soaked in coffee (alcohol was added later).
There are other accounts, however. An organisation calling itself the Accademia del Tiramisu attributes the idea to a 19th-century Treviso brothel madam who developed the recipe to reinvigorate her clients and, as the Accademia coyly puts it, “solve the problems they may have had with their conjugal duties on their return to their wives” (tiramisu means “pickme-up”).
The Italian food writers Clara and Gigi Padovani, meanwhile, have claimed that documents from the 1950s indicate that the dessert also existed in the neighbouring region of Friuli-venezia Giulia. Some Siennese even suggest it was created in their city in the late 17th century.
For her part Alba Campeol claimed that the idea derived from the special “egg cream” – mascarpone mixed with sugar and biscuits soaked in coffee – that her mother-in-law gave her for breakfast in the 1950s to give her strength when she was breastfeeding her son.
Most agree, however, that Campeol perfected the dish
and, after it was added to the menu at Le Beccherie in 1972, did a remarkable job, with the tourism authorities in the Veneto in promoting it. There is even an annual Treviso Tiramisu World Cup, with two main categories, “original recipe” and “creative recipe”. Today there are more than 200 versions featuring a variety of different spirits and other ingredients.
Though some have attributed the name tiramisu to its supposed aphrodisiac qualities, it was Alba who came up with the name, recalling how it had helped to keep her going after the birth of her son.
Ado Campeol was born in the small town of Treviso on December 15 1927 to Carlo and Antonietta Campeol. His father founded Le Beccherie in 1939 and as a child Ado helped out in the restaurant. After his father died in 1946 he took over the running of the establishment and became a constant, jovial “front of house” presence, helped by his mother, who ran the kitchen, and his two sisters
In 1954 he married Alba di Pillo, who eventually took over the running of the kitchen from his mother.
The original alcohol-free recipe for tiramisu was certified by the Italian Academy of Cuisine in 2010, but it was never patented by the Campeol family. However, a governor of the Veneto has recently attempted to persuade the European Union to recognise Treviso officially as the home of tiramisu just as Naples has been recognised as the home of pizza, and to give the dish protected status so it can not be made with strawberries or (horrors!) cream.
In 2013 the Campeol family relinquished management of Le Beccherie, though they continue to own it.
Campeol is survived by his wife and son.