A panettone worth 80,000 euros was recently commissioned to an Italian pastry chef by a billionaire Russian businessman.
Italy’s typical Christmas dessert, panettone is made with flour, eggs, milk, sugar, raisins and candied fruit; the same recipe followed by the pastry chef who prepared the special panettone, Dario Hartvig, owner of the Pasticceria del Borgo in Carmagnola, near Turin. Same dimensions, same shape. So how could il be that expensive? Well, first the edible golden leaves that cover it and, above all, the crown of little diamonds circling around its base.
Hartvig said he met the Russian businessman, whose name is unknown, last summer in Sardinia, when he was invited to dinner on his yacht and was asked to prepare a dessert. Hartvig made a tiramisu that the businessman apparently loved. A few months later, the businessman contacted him to prepare a panettone for his Christmas party in Russia.
Hartvig said he has been making special panettoni for years, with golden leaves and Swarovski crystals, worth around 800 euro; however the businessman was not happy with this choice and said he would send something himself: the diamonds that make this panettone worth 80,000 euros, the most expensive ever.
