Leone

Founded in 1857, Pastiglie Leone makes small sugar pastilles in Collegno, on the edge of Turin, and packs them in decorated tins. The flavors span fruit, flowers and spices.

About Leone

Based in
Collegno (Turin), Italy
Founded
1857
Known for
sugar pastilles in decorated tins

Luigi Leone opened his confectionery in 1857 in Neive, near Alba in Piedmont, and the business soon moved to Turin. In 1934 Giselda Balla Monero and her brother Celso Balla took it over and set up production on Corso Regina Margherita. Guido Monero, who ran the company from the 1980s, moved the factory to Collegno, on the edge of Turin, in 2006. Luca Barilla bought the company in 2018.

The pastiglie are small sugar pastilles sold in tins with Art Nouveau style graphics, in fruit, floral and spice flavors.

Leone questions

What are Leone pastiglie?

Pastiglie is Italian for pastilles, small hard sweets, and Leone's are made of sugar. Luigi Leone's first ones, in the 1850s, were a dried sugar paste. He took the idea from the sugar sweets that his family's inn in Neive offered guests at the end of a meal.

How are Leone pastilles made?

Each pastille starts as a sugar paste flavored with essences, extracts or herbs. The paste is shaped in the company's traditional bronze molds, and every pastille is stamped with an L for Leone. Luigi Leone's first pastilles in the 1850s used herbs and spices such as mint, cinnamon and clove, and the range has since grown to fruit and floral flavors as well.

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