If you feel a bit sexy after indulging in tiramisu, you’re not alone.

Italians believe tiramisu is a strong aphrodisiac, and once you know it’s erotic history you’ll understand
why.
Tiramisu was invented inside brothels in the gorgeous northern Italian town of Treviso, renowned for its
sexually relaxed mores and pleasure-seeking inhabitants.
In Italian, tiramisu literally means “pull me up, lift me up”, or, more literally, “pull it up”.
The ancient Latins had a motto: Dulcis in Fundo, meaning the best, yummiest treat always comes at the
end of something, usually after a meal.
But not tiramisu. It’s more than a simple dessert. For centuries, up until 1958 when brothels were shut by
the government, the cake was served to reinvigorate exhausted clients inside so-called “casino” (closed
whorehouses) non-stop: Before, during and after heavy and multiple sex sessions to keep them going and
the money flowing.
The more tiramisu swallowed, the more flourishing the prostitution business was. “Hardly anyone, not
even the majority of Italians, know its real origins. Italy’s most potent turn-on is a brothel cake all the
world loves and venerates”, says local Lara Santi, a tourist PR.

Treviso, a maze of cobbled alleys crossing streams and watermills, has been dubbed since the middle ages
“Italy’s happiness and sex kingdom”. Its people, not as God-fearing as those in the rest of the country,
have always had a knack for “amorous” activities.

The city is now exploiting its fame as a sexy food spot, cashing-in on its global gourmet reputation
through “erotic guided tours” highlighting kinky-sounding bistros like the “Red Shadows”, old brothels
and other dens of vice where couples used to (some still do) perform threesomes and swaps.

Visitors are also taken to the restaurant-hotel that first exported the tiramisu recipe outside restricted sex
places in the 1960s after brothels were banned.
Italy’s iconic dessert as we know it today is made of layers of Savoiardi ladyfingers biscuits dipped one
by one in a whipped mixture of mascarpone cream cheese and a fine blend of different coffee powders.
Some chefs add Marsala wine and a sprinkle of chocolate powder.
It’s a harmony of flavours that triggers ecstasy, and not just in the mouth.
The original brothel recipe however was slightly different, more simple. It was called “sbatudìn” which
literally means “gimme a shake, bang me”.
The “sbatudìn” was an energetic mixture said to be able to raise even the dead from the with a cook, she
perfected the recipe and started making it inside her restaurant and serving it for the first time to people
who had never set foot in a brothel.
Today you can visit the tavern of tiramisu’s rebirth as a “common” cake. It’s located in Treviso’s most
ancient piazza and is called Le Beccherie. The name has two meanings: in local dialect it means both
“carnage” and “cuckold’s lair”, says farmer Paolo Manzan.
A modern tantalising variant has been created called ‘De-structured tiramisu’ with crumbly chocolate
biscuits and a slightly salty taste. Other taverns are battling to claim the paternity of the orgasmic dessert.
In order to meet rising demand, bars in town now use draft tiramisu machines that prepare the cake in two
seconds making it ooze out like an espresso.

Times might have changed but bad habits die hard. Scattered across the tiny medieval centre of Treviso
are lavish palazzos that were once brothels. And despite the fact that they’ve been illegal for decades,
there are houses that have kept their original sex mission. One is just behind the mayor’s office and
recently police uncovered a network of secret brothels.
Truth is that in Treviso several whorehouses have always stayed open but as “underground” hot spots
away from mainstream society, known to the few (or many?) clients who still visit.
“We love having fun, this has always been our vocation. Pleasure is part of our history and tradition”,
says the owner of a local Treviso tavern, Denis Mistro.

grave. It was made of shaken egg yolk and sugar, and still nowadays Italian mothers give babies cupfuls
of it to make them grow strong and macho.

Rumour has it that tiramisu-making was a team play. When brothels had their weekly closing day clients
would pop up anyway and started bringing an ingredient to add to the “sbatudìn”. The merchant gifted the
lady sex workers with coffee grains, the artisan with mushy biscuits and the bourgeois with pieces of
grinded chocolate and pots of mascarpone.

Prostitutes and clients had lunch together, chatted and got aroused in anticipation looking forward to the
end of the meal when tiramisu was finally served. Each was proud of their input.

Devouring the cake was the cue: Once everyone had gulped down the portion, it was time to move to the
bedroom and get kinky.

In Treviso, visiting a brothel regularly was like a status symbol. It was part of the local culture, the get-
together of VIPs. If a gentleman never showed up to take part in the Tiramisu tasting sessions and sexy
evenings, he was a loser and an outcast.
When the government shut all “pleasure-houses” the legacy of tiramisu lived on thanks to the wit of one
lady and her dear husband, who had probably visited at least once in his life a “casino” and fell in love
with the sex cake, thinking the recipe should not go lost.

The lady at that time was pregnant and after giving birth to a baby boy, she tested “sbatudìn” and found
it restored her body after labour. Then, together with a cook, she perfected the recipe and started
making it inside her restaurant and serving it for the first time to people who had never set foot in a
brothel.
Today you can visit the tavern of tiramisu’s rebirth as a “common” cake. It’s located in Treviso’s most
ancient piazza and is called Le Beccherie. The name has two meanings: in local dialect it means both
“carnage” and “cuckold’s lair”, says farmer Paolo Manzan.