Donatello’s Italian Bakery

My mother once told me I’d know when I was old because I would start reading obituaries. Honestly, I just happen on these articles altho I do read obits now. Scary when more and more of the names are (were?) younger than I am.

Anyway, I saw an article about Vincenzo Marchesi’s, the owner of Amherst’s Donatello Baker, death from liver cancer last Thursday. I bought an inordinate amount of marzipan cookies and almond horns from him. He’d always call me Signore, making me feel like the transaction was happening in a small town in Italy rather than a small town in Western Massachusetts. I bought frozen gnocci and tortellini for my freezer. For small dinner parties, I’d go in, buy five or six slices of different cakes, which we later split and fought over.

Sorry to see him go. He was a good baker and a nice man and his bakery was a good addition to the local market scene.