FIUGGI – Ciociaria bread goes around the world, to make it do the famous American journalist Oprah Winfrey, in Fiuggi, and its thermal baths, for a few days of relaxation. His talk “The Oprah Winfrey Show”which aired from 1986 to 2011, was the highest-rated program in US television history, with over 37,000 interviews and 18 Emmy Award conquered.
It is she herself who presents the Ciociara loaf on her social page with 22 million fans: «I could not leave Italy without my favorite souvenir: BREAD!!!»
The international star bought the bread in a famous bakery in Torre Cajetani (Frosinone). a stone’s throw from Fiuggi and as soon as she got home she proudly showed her precious purchase of hers.
And incredible it was also for the owners of the bakery, who understood they had been dealing with a special customer, but not up to this point.
The tale of the bakers
“It all started last Monday – Pierluigi, who manages the bakery together with his mother Emilia and his cousin Michela, tells AGI -. It didn’t come directly Oprah Winfrey but one of his assistants, accompanied by an employee of Palazzo Fiuggi who acted as interpreter. She tasted the bread, she liked it and she took it. She then she came back the next day and the day after that. In short, she came back every day and it went on until Saturday, when she came around 11.00 and she directly bought five hot loaves of bread, fresh from the oven. The most beautiful thing was the face of hers that she made of her when she took them, happy as a child ”.
The managers of the bakery then discovered from social media who that customer was incognito, so greedy for bread that she sent her assistant to get it every day. “For privacy reasons, we were not told who that bread was for. We just knew she’d come in California with a private jet. It all happened later. Thursday night Oprah Winfrey posted with our loaves and we finally figured out who had been ordering them. It all started like this, in a simple way. I don’t know who told her about us – concludes Pierluigi – but it was a very nice and unexpected surprise, I’m still incredulous”.
L’Ancient Ciociara Bakery, active since the nineties and known in the area, has become in a few hours a destination for gourmets from other places. “Winfrey’s video gave us a lot of prominence, many people have already come specifically, they come in and ask if we are the “American bread people”. An unexpected opportunity to relaunch a territory, such as the Ciociaria area, rich in local specialties. After all, the American palate is proving to be increasingly attentive to niche Italian products, going beyond the best-known dishes and places and mainstream offerings.
«The most influential woman in the world who chooses our bread. We say thank you» the owners hastened to write to the account of the bakery, expressing their complete surprise at the sudden celebrity. They understood they were dealing with a special client, but not to this extent.
