The origins of Tiramisú are very uncertain because each region claim to have "invented" this delicacy: for this reason it's birth has become a sort of contest between Tuscany, Piedmont and Veneto.
Many legends are associated with this dessert to which even aphrodisiac qualities have been attributed.
The official version places the birth of Tiramisú in the seventeenth century in Siena when some confectioners, in anticipation of the arrival of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo de Medici, decided to make a cake to celebrate his greatness.
They decided that the cake should reflect the personality of the Grand Duke so it was important to be sweet and tasty but at the same time prepared with simple ingredients and, importantly, had to be extremely greedy because Cosimo literally loved sweets.
So it was realized our Tiramisú which was then called the "soup of the Duke" in honor of Cosimo de Medici, who brought with him the recipe to Florence making it well known throughout Italy.
The legend also says that the soup of the Duke became the favorite dessert from the nobles who attributed aphrodisiac properties to it, hence the name Tiramisú.
However, the non official version says that the inventor of Tiramisú was a pastry chef in Turin in honor of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour to support him in his difficult task of unifying Italy.
Veneto also has its own version: it seems that the Tiramisú was invented in the restaurant "El Toula" at the time of Treviso located near a brothel and served precisely to "tirare sù" (pull up).
