Secret footage taken by Vince!
By: Vince
In 2010, I studied culinary arts in Florence, Italy. Among taking cooking classes and working as an intern in a kitchen, I would also partake in going out to clubs on weekends. Hey, I was in my twenties! I’m the type that loves to have a little late night stack after a night out. Usually, I would succumb to left overs in my refrigerator when I returned home.
But one particular evening as I departed a club, I was hit in the face with the most amazing smell of fresh baked breads and pastries. Clubs stay open until 6 a.m., so my first thought was, “wait, what time is it?” I looked at my watch and it read 2:17 a.m. No, I didn’t overstay my welcome. Then I saw a group of people walking from all directions and funneling into a dark alleyway. I followed them. As I followed them the scent got stronger and my hunger was now starting to peak.
The alleyway led to a line of people. Couples, friends, colleagues in line. However, nobody was talking. At the back of this mysterious line, I asked the guy in front of me what was going on? He responded with “shhhhhh”.
I thought I had just stumbled upon some odd late night book club. I was about to depart when I saw what everyone was waiting for…two girls walked by me with fresh baked pastries. I stayed.
As the line got shorter, each time the door opened the night air was illuminated with that amazing pastry smell. I reached the front of the line. Two giggly girls exited and I was aggressively signaled by a little lady to come in. The little lady followed with a “Shhhh” to the giggly girls. I walked in to a bakery with bakers hustling, commercial ovens as big as semi-trucks, racks of pastries being thrown around and fresh baked pastries to choose from. “Hurry, what do you want?” she asked in Italian. I pointed to a cream filled croissant and she held up two fingers. “Due Euro.” I tossed her the two euro and was on my way with my cream filled croissant.
Not wanting to tease those in line, I waited until I got through the alley. I took a bite. Warm and crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside. It was the most perfect late night treat I had ever had.
I woke up the next day and had one thing on my immediate mind. That pastry. I went back to that location to get another cornetto, but was shocked to see no sign of anything. There was no line. No scent. No little lady!
It was like it had never happened.
I went to work that night and told my Italian co-workers about the secret bakery I had found. They all laughed. “There are lots of these bakeries all over the city,” Luigi said. “They bake at night for all the bars (espresso shops) to serve the next day. The bakeries want to make a little extra money, so they open it up to the public.”
I responded with, “what about them trying to keep everyone quiet. It was a speakeasy or something”
He laughed again. “Yea, they want all the drunk people to be quiet because if they wake the residents, the operation will be closed to the night crowds.”
And there it was. My speakeasy bakery wasn’t so “speakeasy”. As I walked home that night, I smelled fresh baked pastries being cooked elsewhere. Another “speakeasy bakery”.
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