New Haven, CTBakeries

Lucibello's has been a New Haven pastry fixture since 1929, and CTbites' bakery guide points to a full case of Italian sweets and cakes that handles everything from a large wedding order to an afternoon craving. This is old-school Italian-American baking, so the move is a box of cannoli and a ricotta or rum cake. It is one of the last of the classic State Street bakeries still doing the wedding work the traditional way.

On the edge of Wooster Square, Libby's has baked Italian cookies and pastries since 1922, and CTbites highlights the traditional case: tri-color butter cookies, linzer tarts, milanos, and wedding cookies, all baked fresh each day. It sits a short walk from the Wooster Street apizza row, which makes it the natural dessert stop after a pie. Order a mixed cookie box and add a cannoli, or an Italian ice in the summer.

Havenly is a downtown bakery and cafe that doubles as a training program for refugee and immigrant women, a mission CTbites folds into its bakery guide. Since opening in 2018 it has grown from a small kitchen into a Temple Street storefront turning out Middle Eastern and Mediterranean baked goods along with a full lunch menu. Come for the mana'eesh and baklava-style sweets, and know the purchase supports the women learning the trade behind the counter.

Pistachio Café works a Turkish and Syrian tradition, and CTbites' bakery guide points to its baklava, Turkish delights, and thick Turkish-style coffee. It is as much a coffeehouse as a bakery, a place to sit with a small plate of syrup-soaked pastry and a strong cup. Order an assortment of the baklava with a Turkish coffee, and take a box of Turkish delight home. The nut-forward, honey-heavy case sets it apart from the city's Italian shops.

Apicella's has baked in Fair Haven since 1920, and CTbites singles out its savory side as much as its sweets, including chicken-parm stuffed breads and Italian ring cakes. This is a neighborhood bread-and-pastry bakery of the old kind, where the stuffed breads are the reason to make the trip. Get a chicken-parm bread to eat warm and a ring cake for the table. It has outlasted most of its Grand Avenue peers.