There are myriad ways to ape haute Milanese chic. Some involve cashmere, others a haughty froideur.
But a more accessible route is to purchase a box of marrons glacés — a classic European sweet, also called candied chestnuts — from Giovanni Galli 1911, a longtime confectioner that still produces the seasonal delicacies by hand.
Its nondescript white boxes with Galli’s name printed in the original turn-of-the-century typeface appear on smart dining tables here once fall arrives. And agonizingly slow-moving lines form outside the store throughout December, although online sales have helped a bit with that situation. (The season for marrons glacés lasts through Easter.)
In the shop on Via Victor Hugo, Federico Galli, 48, a member of the family’s fourth generation operating the business, was bustling around behind the wooden counter. The vitrines were filled with treats like Boeri chocolate-covered cherries; molded pralines, some called Rumini for their filling of chestnut paste and rum and others topped with toasted hazelnuts; sour alkekengi (also called Chinese lanterns) or winter cherries, hand-dipped in dark chocolate; and shiny marzipan in the traditional shape of fruits.
The bell above the front door tinkled, and a camel-clad woman entered to buy three marrons glacés for her daughter, informing the sales assistant that they were to be a treat after the child’s dentist appointment. One wonders what the dentist would think.
There is no question that the store’s most famous product is marrons glacés. The hand-peeled chestnuts are poached in syrup and then glazed, some covered in dark chocolate and others individually wrapped in shiny gold paper. Customers in the know also may ask that their order be sprinkled with crystallized violet petals or orange peel covered in chocolate, called arancini, both of which are considered to blend particularly well with the taste of the chestnuts.
