Italian Pastry Virtuoso Comes to Split: Armando Palmieri Is One of the Leaders of the Coming Akademija Slastica

The ŠKMER Academy runs Pastry Chef – Akademija Slastica, its pastry academy, from 16 to 28 February 2026: a complete hands-on training programme for cooking enthusiasts, future professional pastry chefs and cooks who want to build on their knowledge of pastry. The special part of this two-week programme is the guest appearance of the renowned Italian pastry chef Armando Palmieri, who has an international career and will lead the module on traditional Italian pastry alongside the ŠKMER educators.

Palmieri brings rich international experience to Croatia, an academic approach to pastry and the concept of pasticceria ragionata, which studies the science behind every recipe, the structure of a dessert and the balance of flavours. The pastry academy is the result of cooperation between ŠKMER, an international association of chefs and culinary professionals based in Split and devoted to the development of gastronomy and of the profession, and CAST – Italian Institute for Culinary & Hospitality, an international Italian centre of excellence specialised in top training in cooking, pastry and hospitality management.

A globetrotting pastry chef with an academic approach

Armando Palmieri was born in Naples. After technical and science studies he decided to follow his passion for gastronomy and trained at the prestigious schools Etoile in Italy and Ferrandi in France. His professional path took him to Paris (La Parisienne) and to London, where as Head Pastry Chef he worked with chef Bruno Barbieri on winning a Michelin star, and then through Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium, where he specialised further in chocolate working with the house of Godiva.

Back in Italy he developed the educational concept of pasticceria ragionata together with the University of Parma, and his international teaching career covers China, Taiwan, South Korea, the United States and Canada.

He has received many international honours, among them the title of Ambassador of Italian Pastry in the World. He is co-founder of the educational laboratory Open Pastry Kitchen in Milan and host of the television show Il giro del mondo in 80 dolci. Since 2022 he has been a member of the Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italiani and a CAST Ambassador.

He is the author of several professional books on pastry, and today he works as an international educator, consultant and content creator, sharing his knowledge and, as he puts it himself, above all his passion.

PASTRY CHEF – AKADEMIJA SLASTICA

Module: Classics of the Italian pastry tradition

During the Split module the participants will make representative Italian desserts that bring together tradition and modern pastry technique:

Maritozzo with whipped cream – a typical Roman sweet, a soft sweet bun filled with plenty of whipped cream.
Pastiera – a traditional Neapolitan tart, most often made for Easter, with ricotta and cooked wheat, scented with orange flower water.
Babà – a soft, spongy cake soaked in rum syrup, from the Neapolitan tradition.
Cantucci – traditional Tuscan almond biscuits, usually served with the dessert wine vin santo.
Cannoli – a Sicilian speciality of crisp tubes filled with ricotta cream, often enriched with pieces of chocolate or candied fruit.
Cassata – a rich and colourful Sicilian cake of sponge, ricotta, marzipan and candied fruit.
Torta della Nonna – a typical Tuscan tart filled with pastry cream, topped with pine nuts and icing sugar.
Caprese torta – a cake from Capri, made with dark chocolate and almonds.
Mostaccioli – traditional sweets of southern Italy, made with honey or chocolate and spices, most often in the Christmas period.
Tiramisù – the well known spoon dessert of savoiardi soaked in coffee, mascarpone cream and unsweetened cocoa.
Torrone – a traditional Christmas sweet of honey, sugar, egg whites and nuts such as almonds or hazelnuts.
Zeppole di San Giuseppe – fried or baked pastries traditionally made for Father’s Day, filled with pastry cream.
Apple strudel – a typical dessert from the Trentino–Alto Adige region, thin pastry filled with apples, raisins and cinnamon.
Zabaione – a sweet cream of egg yolks, sugar and Marsala wine.