In the small village of Alvito in Lazio, there is a centuries-old tradition of nougat production. The famous Alvito nougat is a specialty of this municipality and has a long and fascinating history. The village, with just under 2500 inhabitants, is located in the Comino Valley at an elevation of less than 500 meters. Every year, many nougats are produced in Alvito, a municipality in the province of Frosinone, in the Comino Valley, which is close to Abruzzo. This century-old tradition linked to nougat has attracted people from all over Italy to the two historic pastry shops that produce it: Macioce and Di Tullio.
In the 18th century, the nougat tradition began in the area, and it was later innovated in the 20th century, despite the lack of almond production. Vittorio Macioce, a master pastry and confectioner, introduced chocolate, which was previously unknown in the Alvita confectionery tradition, replacing the dark sugar icing to cover the Pasta Reale nougat. The merit of Mr. Macioce would have been to combine the local production of classic Alvito nougat, with white royal paste, candied fruit and icing, with a new version. “Vittorio had learned to love the intensity of cocoa in Rome and so he decided to mix the almond paste with chocolate and cover it with sugar icing, using the purest cocoa available to balance the sweetness of the almonds” we read in a note signed by Vittorio's grandson. “This is how the Regina nougat was born, a white Royal Paste nougat with pine nuts covered for the first time in the finest dark chocolate."
Vittorio Macioce ensured that fresh pastries were never overlooked, creating traditional delicacies such as the dark chocolate canestrelle with Alvitana buttercream and a cake made of sponge cake, custard, rum syrup, and Fabbri black cherry. All of Vittorio Macioce's knowledge has been passed onto his niece Paola Macioce who, together with her sister-in-law Virginia Pica, has decided to continue the family business. Paola has transformed the pastry shop into an elegant and refined establishment by introducing high-quality ingredients such as Bronte pistachios, PGI Piedmont hazelnuts, and aged rum. Eleonora, who has taken over the reins of the pastry shop with her sister Elisabetta since March 2023, mentions that the product experiences its peak demand during the Christmas period and is often given as a gift. However, it is available for purchase throughout the year. The products are already being exported abroad through fellow countrymen who have emigrated to various continents, from Europe to America and Australia.
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