Dolciarte

Natural leaven, kept going all year

Panettone at Dolciarte is not a December-only proposition. Carmen Vecchione’s Avellino pasticceria works from a natural mother starter through to the bake, with fermentation running to tens of hours to build the lightness, fragrance and flavour that panettoni and colombe need. The idea she describes as panettone tutto l’anno grew out of an encounter with Rolando Morandin and his sourdough starter, and it now sets the rhythm of the whole counter.

The shop opened in May 2008 in the heart of Avellino’s historic centre and reads as a complete laboratory with a bar attached, which is the right way to understand it: production space first, pastry counter second. Vecchione’s aim is not simply to sell dessert but to reinterpret the flavours of Irpinia through raw materials, artisan technique and visual care.

A structured pastry programme

The range is organised rather than improvised: Lievitati, Biscotti, Cioccolato, Torte da credenza and Selezioni. That runs from long-fermented festive doughs to crisp everyday biscuits, chocolate work and the plain, keepable cakes Italian households actually eat. The leavened category is the spine, and everything else is arranged around it.

Vecchione is the centre of it as founder and maestra pasticciera, Irpinian, born in Pianodardine, with a degree in economics and commerce before pastry training that took in amateur and professional courses and notable work with Valrhona. The house language keeps returning to artisanal processing, selected ingredients, experimentation and elegance, which is why the historic-centre address reads as a workshop rather than a boutique.

What to focus on

Start with the leavened specialties. Pan Gelsi is the house summer panettone, made with black mulberry and suited to breakfast, an afternoon snack or a plate with vanilla or almond gelato beside it. Colomba Albicocca, Pesca e Fiori di Arancio is the other named seasonal leavened piece, apricot and peach with bitter orange blossom water, cream or vanilla gelato optional.

For something smaller, the tozzetti are the most specific thing in the shop: the house calls them its most characteristic biscuit, made with white wine, no eggs, no milk, no dairy, and oil instead of butter. The listed flavours are orange, chocolate and cinnamon; hazelnut and chocolate; and pistachio and chocolate. Biscotti, torte da credenza, chocolate and the curated Selezioni fill out the rest of the order.