Panettone is the national symbol of Italian Christmas and is notoriously difficult to perfect. So, when the version of Pasticceria Giotto was elected one of the 10 best in Italy, it was a real honor.
But the most notable difference between Giotto's panettone and the other nine on the list is that Giotto's is done in a prison.
Inside the prison Due Palazzi, on the outskirts of Padua, in northeastern Italy, a team of inmates dressed in white coats are supervised by four professional pastry chefs.
Six days a week, they begin baking at 4 a.m., starting with brioche that will be served in local bakeries and hotels.
Giotto also produces cookies, pies, nougat, chocolate and ice cream, but panettone is the specialty.
Giovanni, an inmate identified only by his first name in accordance with prison rules, has worked at the bakery for five years, serving his 23-year sentence – officials do not disclose prisoners' crimes.
“Before I was in prison, I had never tried panettone", he said, "but I really like it, and every Christmas I get five or six and send them to my family in Sicilia".
The word panettone comes from loaf, a small bread cake. ANDPanettone means “big cake”.
Similar recipes date back to Roman Empire, when honey was used to sweeten a type of fermented dough. The cake is mentioned in a cookbook written in 1500 by Bartolomeo Scappic, a personal chef to popes and kings during the time of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; was first referred to as ton pan (“luxury bread”) by the 18th century scholar, Pietro Verri, in one of his writings.
A well-baked panettone is a source of pride for the Italian pastry, and every year Italians consume around 9,5 million of the panettone, mainly during the Christmas season. End of Year Parties.
Baking them is a meticulous process that involves – over 72 hours – several kneading and yeast processes. After baking for an hour, the panettone is removed from the oven and left to cool by hanging upside down, to prevent its characteristic rounded tops from falling off.
In total, the Giotto team will bake more than 80.000 panettone this holiday season.
The baking program, which began in 2005, is administered by Work Crossing Cooperative, a nonprofit group that operates prison work programs in the region.
At the beginning of December, the cooperative even opened a Pasticceria Giotto store in Padua.
The Italian prison system is overcrowded and the national average of recidivism is 70%, according to the Justice ministry, with most prisoners returning for longer sentences than their first. That rate drops to 5 percent, however, for inmates who work while incarcerated.
Matteo Marchetto, president of the Work Crossing Cooperative, said the Italian constitution explicitly mentions the education as part of the purpose of a prison sentence.
“The sentence must be fully atoned for, but at the same time there must be a path to recovery,” Marchetto said. “Otherwise, these years are wasted public resources.”
Before being accepted into the baking program, inmates must work with a psychologist for six months. Once accepted, they complete a six-month internship before becoming full employees.
For the next six months, they earn 650 euros a month, then it goes to 800 euros and finally 1.000 euros(about R$6.500).
Throughout the process, inmates continue to work with a psychologist.
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