From 9 to 11 October 2026 the Tiramisù World Cup returns to Treviso and turns ten.
It started in 2017 as a city competition and now reaches its tenth edition with 320 contestants expected, eighty more than in previous years, who got here through the selection rounds in São Paulo, Vancouver and Moasca di Asti, with the next stop already set for Brussels in November. For three days the centre of Treviso becomes the place where the world’s best tiramisù is decided.
What is the Tiramisù World Cup?
It’s an amateur championship: it’s open to adults who haven’t worked in a kitchen or a pastry laboratory for more than six months in the past two years. Having attended a cookery school doesn’t rule you out; running a home restaurant does. The competition is designed for people who make tiramisù at home, not for those who make it for a living.
The format runs in three stages. In the qualifying rounds contestants are divided into groups of about ten per category, each with its own jury. Those who get through move on to the semi-finals, where three groups per category remain. Those who reach the final compete for the world champion title, one for each of the two competition categories. At every stage contestants have forty minutes to prepare their tiramisù, then the jury tastes and scores on the spot: execution technique, cleanliness of the work station, visual presentation, intensity of flavour, balance of ingredients and overall harmony. Five scores from one to ten, which together decide who stays in the running.
The juries aren’t made up of industry insiders alone: every year the Tiramisù World Cup recruits dozens of volunteer judges from the public through a dedicated contest with questions on the recipe and on the history of tiramisù and of the Territory.
The two categories: original recipe and creative recipe
Anyone who signs up chooses between two paths, and it’s an important choice in terms of the competition.
In the Original Recipe there are six ingredients, fixed, supplied by the organisers: savoiardi ladyfingers, mascarpone, eggs (the yolk is compulsory), coffee, unsweetened cocoa and white sugar. No variations allowed: it all comes down to the hand, the timing, the proportions.
In the Creative Recipe the constraints open up. Mascarpone, eggs, coffee and cocoa stay fixed, but the savoiardi can be replaced with another base, and each contestant can add up to three ingredients of their own, at their own expense.
This is where the most personal variations appear: different bases, flavourings and pairings that the original recipe wouldn’t allow. Placed side by side, the two categories say a great deal about what the word tradition means when you take it seriously: a clear boundary on one side, a solid base to invent from on the other.
A dessert born in Treviso: the history of tiramisù
Tiramisù as we know it was born in Treviso, at the restaurant Le Beccherie, in the early 1970s. The story told in the city starts with a breakfast: that of Alba Campeol, based on sbatudin, egg yolk beaten with sugar that Veneto families had prepared for generations as a pick-me-up. From that breakfast and from the work of pastry chef Roberto “Loly” Linguanotto came the idea of replacing cream with mascarpone, and of building a dessert that was both energising and refined. Tiramisù made its debut on the restaurant’s menu in 1972 and has never left it since. The recipe was registered before a notary in 2010, and it remains the reference the city keeps to today.
From here, from the restaurants and pastry shops of the Marca, tiramisù left the province to become the best-known Italian dessert in the world, the one you find identical on menus in Tokyo and New York. This is part of why the Tiramisù World Cup exists: to bring a piece of that history back to Treviso every October.
Where and how to experience the Tiramisù World Cup
Three days, from 9 to 11 October 2026, with the heart of it in Piazza Borsa. The 9th and the 10th are given over to the preliminary rounds, with the popular juries assessing contestants group after group. On 11 October the semi-finals start at nine in the morning, and at three in the afternoon, again in Piazza Borsa, comes the final: at this stage the judging is done by professional pastry chefs, journalists and food experts.
The tenth edition brings new features that go beyond the competition. At Corte San Francesco a Training Centre opens with work stations, ingredients and cookery courses for anyone who wants to practise or simply understand how a championship tiramisù is made, while at the Loggia dei Cavalieri you’ll find the tiramisù created by champions of past editions, to taste paired with wine.
The thread running through 2026 is Italian cuisine as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
Where to stay during the Tiramisù World Cup 2026
Fondazione Marca Treviso, together with the event organisers and the Territory’s trade associations, has put together an initiative for those coming for the competition: a 10% discount on stays in participating accommodation facilities.
The code to use is TWC2026 and it applies to bookings made directly with the property. If the website has an online booking system, just enter the code at the payment stage; otherwise it’s enough to mention it by phone or email when you get in touch with the property. The discount doesn’t apply to bookings made through third-party portals: the choice to go through the direct channel comes from the wish to keep the value of the initiative with the Territory’s businesses.
The full list of participating properties, with contact details for each, is collected here and is updated as new properties join the initiative. Hotels, bed and breakfasts, farm stays and guesthouses across the Marca are spread between the city and the hills, so it’s worth choosing partly on the basis of what you want to see in the days around the competition.
The initiative is made possible by the collaboration with Gruppo Provinciale Albergatori, Confindustria Veneto Est, Coldiretti Treviso, Confagricoltura Treviso and ABBAV.
Why it matters for the Marca
A weekend of competition doesn’t on its own explain why Fondazione Marca Treviso follows this event with such attention. The Tiramisù World Cup is a bridge between the dessert and the Territory that invented it: updated continuously, around this article you’ll find related pieces with everything useful for making the most of the build-up to TWC26 and the event itself, and for what to do in the Marca during the days of the competition.
On 9 October, in Piazza Borsa, the city goes back to doing what Treviso has been doing for more than fifty years. Come and see how the original tiramisù is made, and pick your own winner for this year.