A HISTORY IN BREAD
A bastone is not a baguette
– nearly oval, wider
at the middle than its French
cousin, it’s among the most
basic building blocks of Italian
baking. Scored diagonally
on the top before going
into the oven with sesame
seeds that are characteristically
Sicilian, (originally
brought from the Middle
East), if you had one once,
you’ve had one a thousand
times.
This was the classic bread
that Mario Madonia baked
for stone masons and other
workers in Belmont when he
fi rst opened his bakery more
than one hundred years ago.
Who knows what warmth
and comfort such a familiar
taste and crunch gave to
those immigrant workers,
many of whom had left wives
and children home in Southern
Italy – the Mezzogiorno
– while striving to make
their fortunes in the United
States.
It sustained them as they
sweated in summer and shivered
in winter to build the
majestic buildings of the
Bronx Zoo.
Of course, it wasn’t all
that Mario Madonia offered.
During those early days in
the fi rst shop on Adams Place
– he would move to the current
location on Arthur Avenue
18 years later – he also
baked a traditional Sicilian
semolina bred.
If those workers were reincarnated
and returned to
Madonia today, they would
still fi nd the bastones, plus
the semolina, but they’d also
fi nd a whole lot more.
Even pretzels.
But no bagels. (More on
that later.)
Each generation that has
run the place – and there have
been three – has added to Madonia
Bakery, not just the
space, but the product line.
With each passing decade,
the offerings have become
more and more elaborate.
“We make a bread with olives
in it; we make one with
cranberries,” said Peter Madonia,
the third-generation
co-owner, who runs the business
and marketing while
his partner, Charlie LaLima,
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M 70 ARCH 15-21, 2019 BTR
oversees the actual baking.
The olive bread was actually
Charlie’s idea: each loaf
has a cup of black Moroccan
olives inside. Inspiration
comes from around the
world. “Every time one of
us travels,” Peter says, “we
look around to see what’s out
there, and then we try it.”
It was the second generation,
Peter and Frank, that
started moving beyond the
basics, adding breadsticks,
friselle, and a small line of
traditional Italian cookies
and biscotti.
Mario, from the third generation,
expanded the store to
its current size and included
a broader variety of cookies
and biscotti and “specialty
breads” like prosciutto bread
and bread made with provolone
cheese inside.
LaLima comes from
Brooklyn and joined the
business 25 years ago at Peter’s
invitation. He was even
more creative, more out-ofthe
box. There are breads
with jalapeño, cicola, prosciutto,
provolone, cranberry
& raisin, white chocolate &
cherry, plus dozens of cookies
and biscotti.
Of course, Belmont is
changing, too.
“We are part of this bigger
ecosystem that has the
zoo, Fordham, Botanical
Gardens, St. Barnabas Hospital,
and that’s a whole different
kind of customer,” Peter
Madonia said. “There is
this really good mix of oldworld
customers and new
customers with evolving
tastes, and that’s the best of
both worlds.”
Then there are the pretzels,
baked only on weekends,
that sell out fast. Charlie
discovered them in -- well,
where else would you discover
pretzels?
“Charlie went to Germany
one year and loved them,” Peter
recalled. “A baker showed
him how to make them and
he came back, and we started
baking pretzels, and people
really liked them.”
He added: “It was one of
those things that I didn’t
think would catch on that
caught on.”
Bagels weren’t so lucky.
They were tried and soon discontinued.
“People just don’t come to
Arthur Avenue for bagels,”
Peter said.
You can’t win ’em all.
100 YEARS
(Photos starting clockwise from the left) Jason LaLima fi lls a cannoli;
Fennel Raisin Bread; the assortment of breads that are offered daily;
and a cup of olives is used in each loaf of Madonia’s Olive Bread
Photos courtesy of Madonia Bakery