THE PASTRY
For more than 140 years we have been working in an artisanal way, kneading the dough by hand and following every manufacturing process, in order to raise flavour, digestibility and recipes standards day after day.
The research guide us every day, together with the freshness and quality of raw materials. Sometimes products that represent our experimental aptitude pop up from ancient recipes. If you are able to give a sense of amazement, in addition to the flavour, a nice feeling may become a charming emotion.
QUALITY FROM 1882 TO THE PRESENT DAY
We spend a lot of time in the lab and our pastry recipes have always been protected and handed down from one generation to another. Handicraft is a family tradition, based on history and memories, that give us lots of energy to dream something new every day, by trying to instil emotions and genuine flavour in our products.
OUR HISTORY
It all began in 1882, when Luigi Olivieri ( a family’s ancestor) moved to Arzignano in order to open his first bakery. The years went by: some children emigrated, while others remained in Italy and kept the business alive during the hard years of the First World War. Bianco Olivieri, Oliviero’s father, was born in 1927. After his first experience in the family’s shop, he opened his own bakery. With the help of his wife, aunt Miranda, he bought a piece of land, on which he was able to build a bigger laboratory than the previous one.
In the 1970’s he was the first seller of Pan Biscotto and packed biscuits. In the meantime, his wife Miranda started to make the first baked goods. The results were known as “Le ciambelline di nonna Miranda”, which started to be sold also in the groceries of the province of Vicenza. Initially, Bianco and Miranda’s children (Oriana, Romano, Oliviero and Leonardo) didn’t follow in their family footsteps and took different paths.
Bianco died in 1980 at the age of 52 and the four brothers had to figure out what to do. 18-year-old Oliviero decided to take over the bakery and the lab where he had grown up, provided that he could modernise them with machineries. In a few years, Oliviero and his wife Patrizia restructured the building and added the coffee bar.
In 2000 Oliviero founded Chocoamour, a chocolate company that gave the Olivieris the opportunity to add also a chocolate shop.
In 2006 Nicola (Oliviero and Patrizia’s first-born), after years of travel, decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and started to study a two-year project regarding the art of ice cream.
Shortly afterwards he opened the first chain of organic certified (at EU level) ice-cream parlours with his father and other business partners. This retail chain was sold a few years later, but the ice-cream would remain a brand’s strength in the years ahead. Nicola went back to work in the bakery, dedicating himself to leavened cakes. Initially, the second-born Andrea didn’t follow in their family footsteps: he moved to Milan and went to university.
OLIVIERI: FROM 1882 TO DATE
The new brand “Olivieri 1882” was born in 2009. It brings with itself the working experience that has been gained since 1882. The artisanal family business increasingly grew, the products hit the spot and the coffee shop received numerous awards both from culinary guides and from local and international newspapers.
In 2015 everyone felt the need to enlarge the business, motivated by the growing demand from both Italian and global retailers. Nowadays, “Panettone Olivieri 1882” has arrived as far away as Australia, also passing through France and Sweden. In that year, Andrea returned to Arzignano in order to handle the purchase of a new area, in which a new project could be created, in addition to the pastry shop, the bakery, the chocolate shop and the coffee shop. This project regarded pizza, following the branch of leavened goods. About two-thirds of this area of 1200 square metres has been reserved to the laboratory.
In 2017 “Olivieri 1882” was awarded as one of the best breakfast experiences of Italy by Gambero Rosso, thanks to the top quality products that it offers to its clients every single day, blending tradition and innovation.
The willingness to experiment remains at the heart of all, without fear of taking entrepreneurial risks. Who knows what’s next?
THE AREA
Olivieri 1882 is a restructured industrial space which hosts the historic pastry shop, the ice-cream parlour and Bianco Olivieri bakery where you can buy bread and delicatessen.
Oxymoronically, Olivieri 1882 is a little big family food hall, in which every single space maintains its own peculiar characteristics within one big open space. Each area has got its own soul and distinctive traits, but all parts have one thing in common: the attitude and philosophy with which everyone has been working since 1882, by dividing themselves between the barroom, the bakery stall and the laboratory.
