Highly Recommended is an occasional feature that spotlights some of food editor Gail Ciampa’s special finds as she travels across the state looking for the best meals, drinks, shopping and food artisans.
There's just something wonderfully intoxicating about walking into a bakery as sweet aromas envelop you.
It's next-level potent when you step into an antique bakery, steeped in history and surrounded by polished wood cases full of cookies, pastries and breads. You might not need such a place, but how fortunate you are if you have one.
There's just such a place on Providence's Federal Hill that opened its doors in 1916 and still bakes in brick ovens built in the 1920s.
Scialo Bros. Bakery is ready for Easter at 257 Atwells Ave. The bunnies are out, the eggs are painted in pastel colors and spring flowers are all around. Only a sugar lamb was missing.
When I went in to get a zeppola the day after St. Joseph's Day, I saw all the cases full of Easter breads, holiday cupcakes and the signature Italian pastries including tiramisu and sfogliatelle. You won't see cannoli because those are filled fresh after you order them.
Other cases held the freshly baked loaves of bread and bags of cookies and biscotti. Behind the front counter, within circles of glass, there were the familiar colorful Jordan almonds.
Scialo sets a tone and it says welcome back to the good old days, shopping with your mother or grandmother or dropping in after Sunday Mass for a treat.
The history
Brothers Luigi and Gaetano opened Scialo Bros. Bakery on Federal Hill when they emigrated from Italy in 1916. Luigi ran the bakery after his brother returned to Italy in 1925. Carol Gaeta and Lois Ellis took over in 1993 when their father died at 103, and their hard work continued the family legacy. After the death of Ellis and the pandemic shutdown, Gaeta sold Scialos in 2021.
Today, Olivia DeAngelis is the general manager and cake decorator. She's part of the family that purchased the bakery. While her college degree is in political science, she found baking is her passion.
They still bake with all the Scialo family recipes, but she adds her own design details to cakes and cupcakes.
On the Easter menu
DeAngelis said they are prepared to sell a lot of ricotta pies, a popular Easter dessert. Easter Pastiera are also on the menu. These pies come in rice or grain, with ricotta cheese and orange zest.
Pizza Rustica is another holiday staple at Scialos, and they only sell it at this time of year. Like a quiche but wildly different at the same time, it's made with salamai, soppressate, mozzarella and eggs. It has a crust on the top and the bottom.
The last torrone batches are on the shelves now. Soon it will be too warm to produce the nougat candy made with honey and almonds, said DeAngelis. Wandies or Guanti are also available before Easter.
The first Hot Cross Buns of the season were sold on Palm Sunday. Round and long braided breads are available, but they don't do the hard-boiled eggs for food-safety reasons.
Though Scialo's cookie trays are associated with Christmas, they offer the same lineup for Easter, with Almond Biscotti, Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti, Amaretti, Cherry and Chocolate Macaroons, Prune and Date slices, Butter Cookies with sprinkles, Butterballs and more.
Behind the scenes
Scialo's brick ovens are built into the wall in the huge back room of the bakery. They were rebuilt in 1994 and 2011 to keep things cooking. This room is probably three times the size of the sales area. It's where all the breads, cookies and cakes are kneaded, mixed and decorated.
One thing you won't find at Scialo Bros. Bakery
Perhaps because of the longevity of the business, DeAngelis said she gets a lot of questions about where to dine and where to buy pasta on Federal Hill.
But the question she gets most when she answers the store phone is "Do you have pineapple ricotta pies?" They don't.
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One can imagine Rhode Islanders watching "The Sopranos" and seeing the Season 2 episode with Carmela Soprano offering up a ricotta-pineapple pie to get her daughter the best college recommendation to Georgetown. It gives one a craving, doesn't it?
Details: Scialo Bros. Bakery, 257 Atwells Ave., Providence, (401) 421-0986, on Instagram .
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Highly Recommended: Step back in time at Scialo Bros. Bakery on Federal Hill
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