The stone masons worked
hard all day building the
Bronx Zoo, the massive walls,
the elaborate, Beaux-Arts
buildings, the animal enclosures
– and now they were
hungry. Mario Madonia had
just the right thing: pane di
casa, semolina, ciabatta and
other aromatic breads from
the masons’ homeland, Italy.
It was 1918 in Belmont, and
Madonia was in the right place
at the right time. A trained
apprentice baker from Sicily,
where he’d also worked on a
lemon farm, he’d immigrated
to the United States just a few
years earlier with his wife,
Rose, fi rst working with others
at a communal oven.
Now he opened Madonia
Bakery on Adams Place. His
wife handled the customers in
front while raising four children.
The stone masons were
fed and transported, however
briefl y, back home, and a legend
was born.
A few years later, they
moved to a bigger space right
in the heart of bustling Arthur
Avenue. Food stalls lined
the sidewalks and cars and
horse-drawn carts shared the
streets.
Just past its 100th birthday,
the bakery sits beneath
a blue awning at the same location
– 2348 Arthur Avenue
-- and is now an institution.
Its façade is featured in the
set for the Broadway show,
“A Bronx Tale.” Presidential
candidates and New York City
Mayors have visited.
Over the years, it’s expanded
its product line well
beyond those early offerings.
Now you can even get sea
salt-covered pretzels, an idea
born in Germany (more on
that later). And forget horsedrawn
carts: Madonia will
soon be going online, so customers
on the other side of
the country from The Bronx
will still be able to enjoy the
freshly baked goods.
In a city that is constantly
changing and forever paving
over itself, and forever growing
upward and outward, Madonia
is a stubborn reminder
of days gone by. And today, in
the family-run business now
in its third generation, Mario
Madonia’s grandson, Peter,
runs it.
How strong was the pull of
returning to the family business?
Peter came back to Arthur
Avenue after a hugely
successful career in philanthropy
and public service.
The interior is jam-packed
with irresistibly delicious offerings.
Cookies and breads
fresh from the oven fi ll display
cases and line shelves, and a
9/11 memorial fl ag adorns one
wall, all beneath a pressed tin
ceiling. Here the old and the
new meet.
The expansive kitchen
is in the back, all white tiles
and butcher block countertops
and gleaming ovens beneath
bright fl orescent lights.
Loaves of fl our-dusted bread
are slid into the ovens on giant
trays. Cookies are dipped
into vats of chocolate as big
as something from “Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”
It’s hard not to be transported
and comforted by the
aroma when you walk into
the store.
“Madonia Bakery was
founded in 1918 by my grandparents,
Mario and Rose, who
both emigrated from Monreale,
Sicily,” Peter Madonia
said recently.
“Ever since, the bakery
has evolved under the management
of my father and uncle
– Peter and Frank – as well
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M 54 ARCH 15-21, 2019 BTR
as my brother, Mario, who
introduced a broader line of
products throughout the decades
including breadsticks,
friselle, and a small line of traditional
Italian cookies and
biscotti. Our family is proud
to have served the Bronx
neighborhood and the greater
New York and Tri-State area
for a century and we look forward
to the next 100 years,” he
added.
Peter returned last year.
He celebrated the Centennial
with close family and friends
by visiting Ellis Island, where
his grandparents’ names have
been offi cially placed on the
wall to be honored, along with
the 26 million immigrants
who have entered the country,
built local businesses and
made the United States their
home.
The bakery still offers traditional
breads like the semolina
that fi rst-generation
Italian-Americans like those
stone masons were familiar
with a century ago. In addition,
the bakery now offers an
extensive line of contemporary
twists to breads with jalapeño,
cicola, prosciutto, provolone,
cranberry & raisin,
white chocolate & cherry, dozens
of cookies and biscotti.
The most popular item is
their signature olive bread.
Head Baker Charles LaLima
– who is also Peter’s business
partner -- ensures that each
loaf is packed with a full cup
of black Moroccan olives, all
by hand.
Madonia Bakery also fi lls
their cannoli fresh for each
order and have a wall dedicated
to biscotti. All products
are hand rolled. In addition
to the Madonias and the local
neighborhood culture of passing
down through the next
generation, LaLima’s son Jason
joined the bakery in 2012
and is a trained chef who has
worked at Perla and Eataly.
It’s been a long journey.
There’s been a great deal of
joy, but tough times, too, including
the moment when the
bakery almost closed following
a tragedy.
The early bread offerings
sustained the bakery into the
late 1950’s and early 1960’s.
Then Mario’s two sons, Peter
and Frank, took over and began
the ever-evolving tradition
of adding new products
to keep up with the changing
times. Peter was actually
born inside the bakery.
Some other businesses
in the neighborhood faded
away, but Madonia kept moving
happily through time, its
reputation growing behind
Belmont. As Bronxites moved
to the Westchester suburbs,
making return trips to the
old neighborhood became a
regular outing, with a visit
to Madonia at the top of the
list. Customers left with bags
of bread fi lling the trunks of
their station wagons, while
others continued to visit from
all fi ve boroughs, as well as
the Tri-State area including
New Jersey, Connecticut,
Long Island and even international
travel tour groups
from Italy and Asia. Then in
the early 1980’s Pete’s son Mario
took over. Now it was the
third generation’s turn.
He expanded both the
physical space to double the
size and kept on growing the
product line to include a much
broader variety of cookies and
biscotti. He introduced the
concept of “specialty breads.”
This included the prosciutto
bread and bread made with
provolone cheese inside.
Regrettably, every family
must endure its share of
tragedies. In 1988 one struck,
Baking Bread
in the Bronx
For Three
Generations
philan-
Peter Madonia (l) and Charlie LaLima
discuss the perfect combination
of ingredients for one of the
bakery’s many breads.
Photo courtesy of Madonia Bakery
Continued on Page 67