Gluten-Free Brescia: bakeries, pastry and pizza for coeliacs

Brescia’s historic centre is compact. Piazza della Vittoria, Piazza della Loggia, the Teatro Grande and Piazza Paolo VI, the square of the two cathedrals, are all within about 5 minutes of each other on foot, by our estimate. From there Via dei Musei, the old Roman decumanus, leads to the Brixia park, about 5 minutes on foot from Piazza Paolo VI, and to the Santa Giulia museum, about 10. The Castle is on the Cidneo hill above: Fondazione Brescia Musei puts it about 20 minutes on foot from the railway station. Two places on this page are in that core: Zero&Zero, entirely gluten-free, next to Piazza Vittoria, and Dukka on Via dei Musei. The other three entirely gluten-free shops are a short walk out: 0% Glutine on Via Fratelli Lechi, about 10 minutes on foot from Santa Giulia and from the Pinacoteca; Onger Pasticceria on Via Giovanni Lipella, about 10 minutes on foot north of the Castle; and Papilla on Via Duca d’Aosta, by the Palazzo Fuksas, about 15 minutes on foot south-east of the Pinacoteca, all by our estimate. La Nuova Casetta is north-west of the centre, about 10 minutes on foot from Piazza della Loggia; Pizzorante da Nicola, to the south, and Hotel Impero, north on Via Triumplina, are a longer walk or a bus or taxi ride. The metro covers the rest: a driverless light metro, opened in 2013, that runs from the north through the historic centre and the railway station to the south-east, from 05:00 to midnight. Its Vittoria stop, under Piazza della Vittoria, is the one for the sights in the centre.

A day that works (not a Monday, when the city museums are closed, and so are Onger and La Nuova Casetta): pick up breakfast at Zero&Zero, the entirely gluten-free takeaway bakery next to Piazza Vittoria. Piazza della Loggia and the two cathedrals on Piazza Paolo VI are each about 5 minutes on foot from there, by our estimate. Walk along Via dei Musei to the Brixia park, with the Capitolium and the Winged Victory (the Roman Theatre is temporarily closed), and on to Santa Giulia; a free pedestrian route, the UNESCO Corridor, links the two. For lunch, 0% Glutine, a bakery and pastry shop that is entirely gluten-free by its name, is about 10 minutes on foot from Santa Giulia, for bread, pastries or a savoury bite; check its hours on its Facebook page first, as its card says. The Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo is about 10 minutes on foot from there, by our estimate. For dinner, stay central at Dukka on Via dei Musei, a mixed Palestinian kitchen whose menu marks its gluten-free dishes (skip anything fried unless they confirm a separate fryer; closed on Wednesday), or go to La Nuova Casetta, north-west of the centre: a mixed restaurant and pizzeria that cooks its gluten-free menu in a separate kitchen and, in its own words, is in AIC’s eating-out guide.

Across Italy, many places belong to the coeliac association’s eating-out programme, Alimentazione Fuori Casa (AFC). AIC calls them «informati», informed: staff trained on coeliac disease, AIC’s rules for preparing gluten-free food, a signed agreement, and an in-depth visit from AIC at least once a year. It is not a certificate, and joining is voluntary: plenty of kitchens serve gluten-free food outside it. In Lombardy, the region Brescia is in, a place that serves pizza must have an oven just for gluten-free pizza before it can join, and every member gets a new AFC sticker for its window each year, so look for it at the door. AIC’s list of member places is for its members, but visitors can buy AIC Mobile Welcome, a 15-day version of the AIC Mobile app, also in English. If something goes wrong at a member place, AIC Lombardia asks for a detailed report by email to afcsegreteria@aiclombardia.it. AIC advises booking ahead so the kitchen can get ready. When you book, and every time you order, say you have coeliac disease: «Sono celiaco» or «Sono celiaca».

Brescia’s own dishes are where the traps are. Casoncelli, the local stuffed pasta, are made with wheat flour, and the filling is usually bread or breadcrumbs with cheese and meat: ask for a gluten-free first course instead. Polenta, served with many Lombard meat dishes, is maize, but ask whether it is cooked and served apart from anything floured. Every pizzeria on this page also makes wheat pizza, so ask «Come preparate la pizza senza glutine? Impasto, banco e forno sono separati?» (how do you make the gluten-free pizza? Are the dough, the work surface and the oven kept separate?); at Hotel Impero, which says it has an oven and equipment used only for gluten-free, check that your pizza goes to that oven. For anything fried, ask «C’è una friggitrice dedicata al senza glutine?» (is there a fryer just for gluten-free?). We haven’t checked a Brescia hotel breakfast yet, so confirm the gluten-free breakfast when you book, or have breakfast at Papilla or Zero&Zero. For a picnic or a day out, all four gluten-free shops on this page sell to take away.