The History of the Croissant and the Italian Cornetto: One Ancestor, Two Different Masterpieces

Jul 31
15 min read

Few baked goods are as universally loved as the French croissant and the Italian cornetto. Every morning, millions of people enjoy one with coffee, assuming they are simply two versions of the same pastry. At first glance, they certainly appear similar. Both are crescent-shaped, both are laminated pastries, and both are associated with breakfast.

Yet beneath their golden crust lies a fascinating story spanning more than seven centuries, crossing kingdoms, empires, revolutions, and culinary traditions. The croissant and the cornetto share a common ancestor, but they evolved into two completely different products, each reflecting the culture, ingredients, and tastes of its own country.

The French croissant is celebrated for its extraordinary crispness, delicate honeycomb crumb, and buttery aroma. The Italian cornetto, on the other hand, is softer, sweeter, more fragrant, and designed to pair perfectly with an espresso or cappuccino. One represents the precision of French viennoiserie; the other embodies the warmth and generosity of the Italian breakfast tradition.

To understand why they are different, we must travel back to medieval Europe, long before France became famous for croissants and centuries before Italian cafés filled their display cases with warm cornetti.

Before the Croissant: The Medieval Austrian Kipferl

The true ancestor of both pastries is not French. It is Austrian.

Its name was Kipferl, a German word meaning "little crescent." The name refers simply to its curved, moon-like shape rather than to any specific recipe.

Unlike the modern croissant, the medieval Kipferl was not a laminated pastry. There were no hundreds of buttery layers and no delicate honeycomb interior. Instead, it was closer to an enriched bread or soft roll, sometimes made with butter, sometimes with lard, depending on the region and the economic conditions of the time.

Historical references place the Kipferl in Austria as early as the thirteenth century, making it one of Europe's oldest documented pastries still recognizable today. Long before Parisian bakeries became famous, Austrian bakers were already producing crescent-shaped breads for religious celebrations, family gatherings, and festive occasions.

Recipes varied enormously.

Some versions were lightly sweetened with honey.

Others contained nuts.

Some were flavored with spices brought through medieval trade routes.

Others were entirely savory.

The defining characteristic was never the ingredients but the distinctive crescent shape.

Unlike many modern pastries, the Kipferl was deeply connected to everyday life. It appeared at weddings, harvest festivals, Christmas celebrations, and religious holidays throughout the Austrian territories.

Its simplicity allowed every baker to interpret it differently, creating dozens of regional variations across Central Europe.

This flexibility would eventually allow the pastry to evolve into something entirely new.

The Legend of the Siege of Vienna

No story about croissants is repeated more often than the famous tale of the Siege of Vienna.

According to popular legend, Ottoman forces attempted to tunnel beneath the city walls during the final siege of Vienna in 1683. Because bakers traditionally worked through the night, they supposedly heard the digging before anyone else. They alerted the soldiers, the attack was stopped, and Vienna was saved.

To celebrate the victory, the bakers allegedly created a crescent-shaped pastry representing the symbol found on the Ottoman flag, allowing citizens to symbolically "eat the enemy."

It is an entertaining story.

It is also almost certainly a legend.

Modern food historians point out that crescent-shaped Kipferl had already existed for centuries before the Ottoman siege. Documents mentioning Kipferl predate the battle by hundreds of years, making it impossible for the pastry itself to have been invented as a celebration of the victory.

There is also no contemporary evidence from 1683 describing bakers creating a new pastry after the siege. The earliest written versions of this story appear much later, suggesting that the narrative gradually evolved into culinary folklore.

This does not mean the legend is entirely meaningless.

It reflects how strongly food becomes intertwined with national identity and historical memory. Stories like these often survive because they are memorable, even when historians cannot fully verify them.

Today, most culinary scholars distinguish clearly between documented history and popular tradition.

The historical fact is that the Kipferl already existed.

The siege story remains one of Europe's most enduring food legends.

How Vienna Changed European Baking

By the eighteenth century, Vienna had become one of Europe's great cultural capitals. Its cafés, bakeries, and pastry shops attracted nobles, merchants, diplomats, artists, and travelers from across the continent.

Viennese baking reached extraordinary levels of sophistication.

Bakers refined dough fermentation.

They improved butter quality.

They experimented with richer enriched doughs.

They perfected elegant presentation.

Although the medieval Kipferl remained popular, Austrian pastry chefs constantly refined recipes, creating lighter, softer, and more luxurious versions.

These innovations would eventually influence French baking more profoundly than any single royal figure ever could.

For many years, people believed that Marie Antoinette, born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, introduced the Kipferl to France after marrying the future King Louis XVI in 1770.

The story is appealing because it connects one of history's most famous queens with one of France's most famous pastries.

However, historians have found very little evidence supporting this claim.

Marie Antoinette certainly grew up eating Viennese pastries, and Austrian culinary traditions likely influenced the French royal court to some extent. Yet no reliable contemporary records show that she introduced the croissant, taught French bakers how to make Kipferl, or transformed French baking.

The timeline itself creates problems.

The croissant as we know it today did not yet exist.

The laminated dough technique associated with modern croissants would only emerge decades later.

In reality, the greatest transformation occurred not in the royal palace but inside a Parisian bakery almost seventy years after Marie Antoinette arrived in France.

That bakery belonged to an Austrian entrepreneur whose influence on French pastry is often overlooked, despite changing baking history forever.

The story of the croissant truly begins in Paris, but not with a French baker.

It begins with an Austrian businessman whose name deserves far more recognition than it usually receives.

His name was August Zang.

Born in Vienna in 1807, Zang was originally an artillery officer in the Austrian Army. Like many educated men of his generation, he was fascinated by technology, engineering, and business. After leaving military service, he traveled extensively through Europe before settling in Paris, where he saw an opportunity that would forever change French baking.

At the time, Paris was already considered one of Europe's culinary capitals. French bread was famous, and pastry chefs were among the finest in the world. Yet one thing was largely missing: authentic Viennese baked goods.

Recognizing this gap, Zang opened the Boulangerie Viennoise in 1839 on Rue de Richelieu. It was unlike anything Paris had seen before.

The bakery introduced Parisians to products that were common in Vienna but almost unknown in France. Customers discovered the Kaiser roll, enriched breads, and the famous crescent-shaped Kipferl. They also encountered new baking techniques and a different philosophy of fermentation and dough preparation.

The bakery quickly became fashionable.

Writers, aristocrats, artists, and wealthy Parisians gathered there to taste these exotic Austrian specialties. Newspapers of the period praised the bakery, and soon French bakers began studying Zang's methods.

This moment is one of the few events in croissant history that historians can document with confidence.

Unlike the legends surrounding the Siege of Vienna or Marie Antoinette, the existence of the Boulangerie Viennoise is supported by advertisements, newspapers, business records, and contemporary accounts.

Its influence on French baking was undeniable.

From Kipferl to Croissant

One of the biggest misconceptions is that August Zang invented the croissant.

He did not.

What he introduced was the Austrian Kipferl.

The transformation into the modern croissant happened gradually over the following decades as French bakers adapted Austrian recipes to their own techniques and tastes.

French pastry chefs were already masters of laminated dough, a process that involved repeatedly folding butter into dough to create dozens—and eventually hundreds—of thin alternating layers.

This technique had already been used in pastries such as puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), although applying it to yeast dough required extraordinary precision and patience.

Instead of copying the Austrian recipe exactly, French bakers merged two traditions.

From Austria came the crescent shape and the concept of an enriched breakfast pastry.

From France came advanced lamination techniques, superior butter, and an obsession with achieving maximum lightness.

The result was something entirely new.

The croissant was born not through a single invention but through culinary evolution.

It became lighter than the Kipferl.

Crispier.

Far more buttery.

Its interior developed the characteristic honeycomb structure that today is considered the hallmark of a perfectly executed croissant.

This transformation took decades rather than years.

By the second half of the nineteenth century, the croissant had become increasingly common in Parisian bakeries.

By the early twentieth century, it had become one of France's defining breakfast pastries.

The Revolution of Lamination

If one innovation transformed the humble Austrian crescent into one of the world's greatest pastries, it was lamination.

Lamination is both simple in concept and extraordinarily difficult in execution.

A sheet of butter is enclosed within dough.

The dough is then rolled, folded, rested, chilled, and folded again multiple times.

Each fold multiplies the number of alternating layers of dough and butter.

During baking, several remarkable processes happen simultaneously.

The water naturally present inside the butter turns into steam.

That steam pushes each paper-thin layer apart.

Meanwhile, the yeast continues producing gas until the oven's heat finally stops fermentation.

At the same time, the butter melts, coating every layer with fat while the flour proteins set into place.

The result is a pastry that rises dramatically without becoming heavy.

A properly laminated croissant contains dozens—often well over one hundred—distinct layers. These create the delicate honeycomb crumb prized by professional bakers.

The crust shatters into thin flakes with every bite.

The interior remains moist, elastic, and almost creamy despite containing no cream at all.

Achieving this structure requires perfect control over temperature.

If the butter becomes too warm, it blends into the dough and the layers disappear.

If it becomes too cold, it fractures into hard pieces, tearing the gluten network.

Professional bakers often say they are not rolling dough—they are managing butter.

That single ingredient determines whether the final pastry becomes extraordinary or disappointing.

Why French Butter Changed Everything

Another reason the croissant became synonymous with France lies in one ingredient: butter.

Not all butter behaves the same.

Traditional French butter, particularly from regions such as Normandy and Charentes-Poitou, contains relatively low moisture and a higher fat percentage than ordinary table butter. Many artisanal butters are also cultured, meaning cream is fermented before churning.

This fermentation produces subtle aromas reminiscent of hazelnuts, yogurt, fresh cream, and sweet grass.

When laminated into dough, cultured butter provides three essential advantages.

First, it remains more plastic during rolling, making it easier to create clean, continuous layers.

Second, its higher fat content reduces excess water, helping preserve crispness instead of creating soggy steam pockets.

Third, its rich aroma survives baking, giving the croissant the unmistakable fragrance that fills every great French bakery before sunrise.

Without exceptional butter, the croissant would still exist.

But it would never have become the international symbol of French pastry that it is today.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the croissant had evolved far beyond its Austrian ancestor.

France had not invented the crescent-shaped pastry.

It had perfected it, transformed it, and elevated it into one of the greatest achievements in the history of baking.

Yet while France was refining the croissant, another country was taking the same ancestor in a completely different direction.

Italy would create a pastry with its own personality, its own aromas, and its own breakfast culture.

That pastry became known as the cornetto.

The Italian cornetto is often mistaken for a croissant.

Walk into almost any café outside Italy and ask for a cornetto, and you will probably receive a French croissant filled with cream or chocolate. Even many bakeries use the two names interchangeably.

For Italians, however, they are two completely different pastries.

They may share the same ancestor, but they belong to different culinary traditions.

Understanding the cornetto means understanding Italy itself, where breakfast has always been lighter, sweeter, and more aromatic than in many other European countries.

Unlike the French croissant, which celebrates butter above all else, the Italian cornetto celebrates balance. Butter is important, but it is only one element in a much richer composition of flavors and aromas.

How Italy Made the Pastry Its Own

As Austrian influence spread across northern Italy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—particularly in Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Trentino—the Austrian Kipferl naturally crossed the Alps.

The territories controlled by the Habsburg Empire became a meeting point between Central European and Italian culinary traditions. Viennese bakeries appeared in cities such as Milan, Trieste, Verona, Venice, and Turin, bringing with them recipes that local pastry chefs eagerly adapted.

Rather than copying the Austrian pastry exactly, Italian bakers transformed it according to local tastes.

Italy had always favored softer enriched doughs.

Panettone.

Pandoro.

Brioche siciliane.

Focaccia dolce.

These products reflected an entirely different baking philosophy than the crisp, butter-forward pastries developing in France.

Italian pastry chefs gradually enriched the dough with ingredients that were already deeply rooted in their tradition.

Fresh eggs.

Milk.

Sugar.

Honey.

Vanilla.

Lemon zest.

Orange zest.

Sometimes even small amounts of malt or natural flavorings.

The result was a pastry that became softer, slightly sweeter, more fragrant, and less aggressively buttery than the French croissant.

Eventually Italians gave it a name inspired by its shape.

Cornetto, meaning "little horn."

Although both "croissant" and "cornetto" describe a curved form, each language reflects its own cultural identity.

France emphasized the crescent moon.

Italy emphasized the horn.

The Birth of the Italian Breakfast

Perhaps the greatest difference between France and Italy is not found in the pastry itself.

It is found in breakfast culture.

For centuries, the French breakfast traditionally centered around bread, butter, jam, coffee, or chocolate.

The croissant fit naturally into this habit.

It was usually eaten plain.

Its flavor depended almost entirely on the quality of the butter and the precision of the lamination.

Italy followed a different path.

Espresso became an essential part of everyday life.

Later, cappuccino became the country's most iconic morning drink.

Italian cafés quickly realized that a softer, sweeter pastry paired more harmoniously with these beverages.

The cornetto evolved accordingly.

Instead of relying solely on butter for flavor, it developed an aromatic complexity that complemented coffee rather than competing with it.

This explains why the Italian cornetto often carries delicate notes of citrus, vanilla, honey, and fresh dairy.

Its flavor is intentionally rounder and more comforting.

The goal is not simply to showcase technical perfection.

The goal is to create a balanced breakfast.

Why Italians Fill Their Cornetti

One of the most obvious differences appears the moment you walk into an Italian bar.

Rows of freshly baked cornetti display an astonishing variety of fillings.

Crema pasticcera.

Apricot jam.

Cherry.

Chocolate.

Pistachio.

Hazelnut.

Ricotta.

Pastry cream with sour cherries.

Coffee cream.

Even whipped cream in certain regions.

This abundance is not a modern invention.

Italian pastry has always celebrated filled desserts.

Cannoli.

Bomboloni.

Bignè.

Sfogliatelle.

Maritozzi.

The cornetto naturally became another canvas for pastry cream and fruit preserves.

France, however, developed a different philosophy.

The classic French croissant is traditionally served plain.

Its delicate laminated structure and cultured butter are considered the stars of the pastry.

Adding fillings would often hide the craftsmanship of the baker.

This does not mean France never fills croissants.

The famous pain au chocolat, almond croissants made from day-old pastries, and modern filled croissants are all extremely popular.

But in traditional French boulangeries, the standard croissant remains unfilled.

Italy embraced variety.

France celebrated simplicity.

Neither philosophy is superior.

They simply express two different culinary identities.

Cornetto or Brioche?

Travel across Italy and another surprise appears.

In many regions—especially Sicily—you may ask for a cornetto and instead hear the word brioche.

This creates endless confusion among tourists.

In northern Italy, "brioche" is often used as a generic word for breakfast pastries, including cornetti.

In Sicily, however, the famous brioche col tuppo is something entirely different: a soft, enriched bun topped with a small round knob of dough. It is traditionally served with granita or filled with gelato.

Despite sharing a similar dough richness, it has no laminated layers and no connection to the croissant.

Regional language has preserved these distinctions for generations.

This is one of the beauties of Italian gastronomy.

The same word may describe completely different products depending on where you are standing.

Two Pastries, Two Philosophies

By the twentieth century, the French croissant and the Italian cornetto had become unmistakably different.

The croissant pursued technical perfection through lamination, butter quality, and crispness.

The cornetto pursued harmony through softness, fragrance, and sweetness.

One shattered delicately with every bite.

The other yielded gently before revealing its tender, airy crumb.

One highlighted cultured butter.

The other layered together butter, eggs, milk, citrus, vanilla, and honey.

Both descended from the humble Austrian Kipferl.

Yet each became a perfect reflection of the country that adopted it.

Today, they stand as two of Europe's greatest breakfast pastries—not because one is better than the other, but because each tells the story of a different people, a different culture, and a different way of beginning the day.

The next step is to look beyond history and compare them side by side, ingredient by ingredient, technique by technique, revealing why professional bakers treat them as two distinct masterpieces rather than two versions of the same recipe.

Authentic French Butter Croissant

Story of the Dish

The modern French croissant is one of the greatest achievements in baking. Although its ancestor was the Austrian Kipferl, the croissant became a French masterpiece during the nineteenth century, when Parisian bakers perfected laminated yeast dough using high-quality cultured butter. The result is a pastry unlike any other: deeply buttery, incredibly flaky, with a crisp exterior and a light, honeycomb crumb created by hundreds of delicate layers.

Making croissants is less about following a recipe and more about respecting time, temperature, and technique. Every fold, every resting period, and every degree of butter temperature contributes to the final result. A perfect croissant should be light enough to almost float in your hand, with a crust that shatters gently and an interior that stretches into beautiful translucent strands.

Ingredients

Yield: 12 Croissants

Dough

4 cups (500 g) bread flour
2 tsp instant yeast (7 g)
2 tsp kosher salt (10 g)
¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (240 ml) cold whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml) cold water
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (30 g)

Butter Block

10½ oz (300 g) high-fat European-style butter (82–84% butterfat)

Egg Wash

1 whole egg
1 tbsp whole milk

Preparation

Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the cold milk, cold water, and softened butter. Mix on low speed until all the ingredients come together, then knead for approximately 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Shape the dough into a rectangle approximately 1 inch thick, wrap it tightly, and refrigerate overnight. This long fermentation develops flavor while making the dough easier to laminate.

The following day, place the cold butter between two sheets of parchment paper and gently roll it into a rectangle about 7 × 10 inches (18 × 25 cm). The butter should remain cold but flexible. If it cracks, it is too cold. If it feels greasy, it is too warm.

Roll the chilled dough into a rectangle twice the length of the butter block. Place the butter in the center and fold the dough over it like an envelope, sealing every edge completely.

Roll the dough gently into a long rectangle and perform the first single fold by folding one third of the dough toward the center and then the remaining third over the top. Wrap and refrigerate for 30–40 minutes.

Repeat this process two more times, always chilling the dough between folds. Never force the dough. If resistance increases, allow the gluten to relax before continuing.

After the final fold, refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.

Roll the laminated dough to approximately ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Cut long triangles roughly 4 inches wide at the base and 10 inches long.

Stretch each triangle slightly before rolling tightly from the base toward the tip. Place the croissants on parchment-lined trays with the tip underneath to prevent unrolling during baking.

Proof for about 2½ to 3 hours at approximately 75°F (24°C). They should nearly double in size and wobble slightly when the tray is gently shaken.

Brush lightly with egg wash.

Bake in a preheated oven at 390°F (200°C) for 8 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 360°F (180°C) and continue baking another 10–12 minutes until deeply golden brown.

Allow the croissants to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Chef Tips

Always use European-style butter with at least 82% butterfat.

The dough and butter must have nearly identical consistency during lamination.

Never rush the resting periods.

Avoid adding excess flour while rolling.

A perfect croissant should feel light, have a crisp shell, and reveal an open honeycomb crumb rather than a tight bread-like interior.

Traditional Italian Cornetto

Story of the Dish

Although it shares the same Austrian ancestor as the French croissant, the Italian cornetto evolved into a completely different pastry. Italian pastry chefs enriched the dough with eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, and citrus zest, creating a softer, sweeter, and more aromatic breakfast pastry that pairs perfectly with espresso or cappuccino.

Unlike the French croissant, where butter dominates the flavor, the cornetto is built on balance. The aroma of vanilla, orange, lemon, fresh dairy, and butter blend together into a pastry that has become one of the defining symbols of breakfast throughout Italy.

Ingredients

Yield: 12 Cornetti

Dough

4¼ cups (550 g) bread flour
2¼ tsp instant yeast (7 g)
⅓ cup (70 g) granulated sugar
2 tsp kosher salt (10 g)
2 large eggs
¾ cup (180 ml) whole milk
2 tbsp honey (40 g)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (60 g)

Butter for Lamination

8½ oz (250 g) European-style butter

Egg Wash

1 egg
2 tbsp whole milk

Optional Syrup

¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar

Preparation

Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.

Add the eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, citrus zest, and softened butter.

Knead for approximately 12 minutes until the dough becomes silky, smooth, and highly elastic.

Form into a rectangle, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Prepare the butter block exactly as you would for croissants, although the butter layer is slightly thinner because the cornetto traditionally contains less butter than its French counterpart.

Laminate the dough using three single folds, chilling thoroughly between each fold.

After the final rest, roll the dough to approximately ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick.

Cut into long triangles.

Stretch each triangle gently before rolling to create multiple visible spirals.

Curve the ends inward slightly to create the traditional Italian horn shape.

Proof at approximately 78°F (26°C) for 2½–3 hours until noticeably puffy.

Brush gently with egg wash.

Bake at 375°F (190°C) for approximately 18–20 minutes until evenly golden.

While still warm, brush lightly with simple syrup to give the classic glossy finish seen in Italian pastry shops.

Allow the pastries to cool slightly before filling if desired.

Traditional fillings include pastry cream, apricot jam, sour cherry preserves, chocolate cream, pistachio cream, or hazelnut spread.