DINE: TASTE THIS
A Taste of The Old Country The Marchiano family’s baking legacy continues to thrive in Manayunk. By Leo Dillinger • Photography by JPG Photography (jpgphotography.com)
D
aneen Marchiano is no stranger to Manayunk. Over the last four decades, her family has provided residents and visitors to the neighborhood with authentic Italian specialty breads and tomato pie. In the mid-1970s, Daneen’s grandmother, Nunziata, started baking breads in the basement of her row home on Umbria Street with the help of her son, Frank, and his wife, Kathy. Using the recipes from her hometown of Acri, a small village in Southern Italy, the Marchianos sold their breads as a way to make ends meet. “They basically bootlegged it out of the house,” Daneen said. “They sold it to local bars and people would pull up, knock on the door, and ask to buy whatever was in stock. Eventually, they made enough money and a neighbor gave them a small loan so they could buy this building.” By 1984, Marchiano’s Bakery officially opened at their current location (right across the street from Nunziata’s house). The family started with a more “deli-style” business model that offered everything from hoagies
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and lunchmeat to candy and soda. As the demand for their specialty breads and tomato pie grew, Daneen’s parents returned to only selling their most popular products and moved tenants out of other parts of the building in order to make room for their day-to-day operations. Frank and Kathy’s three children (Christina, Daneen, and Frank Jr.) have always been involved with the bakery since they were young. Daneen recalls sleeping on bags of flour in the back room with her sister while their parents worked and walking down the hill to the bakery every day after school. As soon as they were old enough, Frank put them to work folding boxes, sweeping, and eventually holding down the front counter taking orders. By 2003, Daneen took over the bakery as her father scaled back from the business. “When we were little, it was just a part of our fabric,” Daneen said. “I hated the family business when I was young, and that’s not something I’m embarrassed to say because it took my dad away from me a lot. He was always working so hard. But as I grew older, I realized more and
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8/25/2017 9:58:00 AM