Sunshine in A Sandwich - Panificio Boccia, Ischia (Na)

A day or two before my Ischia adventure, I wrote my travelling buddies – Pizza maker Ivano Veccia and Chef Crescenzo Scotti  – informing them about my travel plans.  Guys, I’ll be arriving probably around 1040.  And I’ll probably be hungry! 😃

Flash-forward, Saturday morning around 1100 am.  Spectacular sunshine and clear blue sky in contrast with the inter temperatures and slighting biting wind greeted me as my ferry pulled into Ischia Porto.  There I caught up with my greeting party, Scotti and his son Domenico alongside Veccia. 

Veccia Scotti, and Domenico

Right away I as whisked off to Ischia Ponte, near Castello Aragonese and most importantly, our first stop – Panificio Boccia.

Panificio Boccia, a bakery that has been around since 1938 and popular with the locals since….since forever!

I soon found out why.

From the street, Panificio Boccia looks like any other minimarket in Italy.  Veccia knocked at the small unmarked door and opened.  We stepped inside to a warm paradise of fresh baking bread produced daily in two wood burning ovens.  We arrived just in time as Michele and Luigi were taking out bread from the oven. 

One loaf would be enough for our mission.  Karen, we’ll get a piece of bread, open it up, and stuff it with mortadella, Scotti informed me.

Great!

We took our loaf, still steaming hot, next door to the grocery section of Panificio Boccia.  Behind the counter, we handed our lovely loaf over to Andrea and Luciana.  

Luciana cut that baby open, placed several slices of mortadella inside and served up four super sandwiches.

We paired it up with a park bench, a couple of beers, an amazing view of the sea.

Mission accomplished!!!