29 orange, lemon and carob trees. «The local raw matter, among which almond obviously plays the main role, represents our strength» tells me Bruno Buccheri, thirty years old with a shaggy blonde beard, who every day, leaving from his Sortino, goes in and out of the prison to ensure the success of this project. Meanwhile Michael, a 20-yearold Nigerian from Edu, his braids hidden by a shiny white laboratory cap, is carrying 32 trays of almond paste biscuits from the production to the packaging department. A white line, drawn in the center of the huge room, delimits the two halves as in a football field, each with its own machinery. «The lab is about 300 square meters large, with an attached storage room» calculates Bruno together with Salvo Corso, the production manager who, from above his long beard and glasses, looks more like a philosopher from Magna Graecia. «The oven is able to process 100 kilos of product at a time and soon – continues Bruno – a peeling machine will arrive, by which we will be able to complete the almond cycle entirely in our laboratory». «Dolci Evasioni – they underline – purchases its almonds exclusively using the organic and illegal-recruitment free chain from three different suppliers in the area of Noto», not far away from here. Thinking about the underground workforce, brought without any protection on the fields by unscrupulous recruiters, Puglia comes to my mind, I tell him. «Cassibile is the home of illegal recruitment», Bruno corrects me. And Cassibile is a hamlet of Syracuse, halfway between the city center and the municipality of Noto. «This is why our laboratory responds to the logic of fair trade, in addition to being gluten-free and, for some of the latest products such as the carob and lemon cookies, also lactose-free» Bruno continues, guiding me together with Salvo and Felicia towards the warehouse, containing all the 40 Dolci Evasioni products. While walking, I try to count I don't even know how many roasted almond trays that Simone, an Ethiopian boy with a gentle smile, is packing in one-pound vacuum bags. «Simone is packing a 60 kilos order for a regular customer», says Salvo. In the room lies a treasure of almonds for all tastes. On pallets loaded with well-ordered white cartons there are the typical almond paste loaves, similar to small American footballs from which, dissolved in water or processed, the delicacies of Sicilian pastry shops – almond milk, granita, pastries, ice creams – will be born. Here are stored bags of peeled or natural almonds of a kilo or a hundred grams, amaretti and almond pastries filled with a variety of candied fruit, lemon, orange, pistachio, also produced individually. Bruno jumps from one pallet to another, taking out of the boxes jars, sachets and loaves, illustrating them carefully: «Once a year, we also make pesto with our basil, grown in a land previously abandoned, but also rosemary, oregano, fennel and dried cherry tomatoes thanks to a laboratory in Canicattini, not far from here». The most unexpected corner is that dedicated to gomasio, a flavouring I was not aware of. «We grind it in the lab starting from the Ispica sesame, and it is very good, as well as recommended for low sodium diets. Plus, we have orange salt, lemon salt, mixture of vegetables salt». Once ready to leave the warehouse, Simone has finished packaging and is preparing coffee for everyone using a large mocha, while a generous taste of freshly baked almond pastries appears on a tray. Having in front of my eyes the whole working cycle – kneader, refiner, a candying tank, cutter, strainer, melter, blast chiller and pralinator, because the most demanding ones can find the Dolci Evasioni almonds also covered with Modican chocolate – I don't have any doubt about the goodness of the biscuits. The proof does not disappoint. Indeed, it astonishes, since the mixture of this delicate, still warm, almond paste ready to be packaged is an experience reserved for a few lucky pastry chefs. «At the beginning I gained a lot of weight, working here» confesses Florin, 30 years old, the veteran of the lab, for three years backbone of the group in which many inmates regularly work with contracts starting from three months to one year. 1.93 mt. tall, he looks like a basketball player. He does not take part in the ritual of the tasting just because he is busy manoeuvring the nearby pralinator. «Everyone can do everything in here, both because we want to create different skills, and because we did not want hegemonic positions within the work group, apart from the obvious fact that any day now we could lose our pastry chefs», Bruno clarifies. From time to time transfers for prisoners arrive, because – due to the fact of having the laboratory not only inside the prison perimeter, but also in a prison section, behind a string of large iron doors – here the rule of two thirds of the penalty, into force at the Pozzuoli roasting, does not count. «It is not necessary to be an article 21 (understood here as the article 21 of the Italian Penitentiary Order, referred to the work outside the prison, ed.’s note), you can also be employed at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the sentence», Felicia informs me. «In fact, one of the problems that we have is that of layoffs» Bruno intervenes. «If there is a transfer – he continues – or also an end of sentence for a foreigner who can return to his Country, we lose our pastry chefs and we must also pay thousands of euros for each dismissal practice, because now the voluntary resignation procedure or consensual resolution has to be done online or in a tax center, but obviously inmates do not have internet, and certainly they cannot go to a tax center, while in prison». Such problems make this little miracle even bigger. «There is the "Miracle, miracle!" and the "Miracle!"» suggested Lello Arena to Gaetano (Massimo Troisi) in the movie Ricomincio da tre. And Dolci Evasioni obviously represents a "Miracle, miracle!". When I ask myself, and I ask Bruno and Salvo, what is the secret of their success, both in terms of flavours and of sales, they answer me: «Our network of contacts». The one created by the Arcolaio cooperative in 16 years, today counts thousands of people, and as many potential customers for each product. But also, as for the Lazzarelle case, their prize list. Among the latest, two International Taste Awards 2020 prizes and some fundamental achievements of trust for the prison system itself. The new prison director, Aldo Tiralongo, has been allowing for six months technology to enter the penitentiary through Skype calls for inmates, providing the lab with an internet connection and a computer always online, in order to be able to real-time manage the lab orders. In high season, Christmas and Easter, deliveries are so numerous that the number of pastry chef prisoners increases from 5 to 9, and even shifts are lengthened. From Monday to Friday the lab is open until 6 p.m., compared to the normal time, when it stays open until maximum 2 p.m. Their next target? «Panettone» they answer firmly. «We have already done several trials. It looks good, we get it right,
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