Frangipane forno e cucina

Sicilian grain worked in a modern forno

Frangipane opened in Milazzo in December 2024 as a forno-cucina rather than a traditional bread shop, and the grain is where it makes its case. The bread rests on short-supply-chain flours, organic or stone-milled, lievito madre and long maturation, with digestibility treated as a design goal rather than a claim. Ancient Sicilian grains run through the programme, including Chiattulidda, the last pure hard wheat the bakery works in purezza so that a single grain rather than a blend comes through in the loaf.

The house came out of an unusual path. One of the founders moved into bread-making from the railways, and the technical lineage runs back to the school of Davide Longoni, one of Italy’s best-known contemporary bakers. That combination shows in a bakery that is local and modern at once, set in Milazzo’s port area with the Aeolian Islands on the horizon, and framing bread as a matter of ethical sourcing and respect rather than volume. Gambero Rosso’s Pane dell’Anno recognition in 2026 is the clearest outside signal that the bread programme is working.

Bread, pizza and a sweet counter under one roof

The forno runs wider than loaves. Pizza appears in several textures: teglia with a short, sharply crisp bite, padellini as single-portion pizzas with a melting centre and a friable base, and pizza in pala made from semi-integral dough matured for more than 36 hours. A Norma version of the teglia keeps the Sicilian thread running through the savoury side.

There is a takeaway meal format too, arranged in three set formulas named Marina, Borgo and Capo, which is how the cucina half of the name earns its place. The sweet counter is built on soft lievitati and artisanal biscuits made with good butter, selected flours, raw sugars or the sweetness of fruit itself. Some breads are always in the case, others come round on set days, so the counter has a rotation worth reading before choosing.

Start with the bread, then take pizza

Bread first, because it is the clearest expression of what the bakery is for. Look for loaves built on short-chain, organic or stone-milled flours and fermented with lievito madre, and take the Chiattulidda or another Sicilian grain loaf when it is on the day’s rotation.

Then move to pizza. Pizza in pala is the most technically interesting, with more than 36 hours of maturation giving it an external crispness and a friable bite. Pizza in teglia is the more familiar route, and padellini are the format to take when one portion is enough. Finish at the sweet counter with the lievitati or a bag of biscuits, which travel better than anything else here.