The Biker Baker of Scanno

A Cookie Story from Abruzzo, and a recipe for chocolate amaretti

Domenica Marchetti

Jun 14, 2026

Ilario Notarmuzzi, Biscotteria Artigianale di Liliana Rosati, Scanno. Art by Daniela Bracco

Benvenuti! Welcome to the latest installment of Abruzzo in Tavola, my monthly series exploring the food of Abruzzo. This month takes us to Scanno, one of the region’s most picturesque mountain villages, located in the province of L’Aquila. It is designated one of the “Borghi più belli d’Italia”—most beautiful villages in Italy— and deservedly so. The town, built from stone and iron and ringed with mountains, is situated on a rise beyond the spectacular Sagittarius gorges in the heart of the Apennines. It is famous for filigree gold and silver jewelry, distinctive traditional costumes still worn by women during certain festivals, and for its fine bobbin lace, called tombolo.

It is also home to one of Italy’s smallest—possibly the smallest—cookie bakeries, Biscotteria Artigianale di Liliana Rosati, tucked into a piazzetta down a set of stone steps (stone steps are everywhere in Scanno). Here, on most days, is where you will find Ilario Notarmuzzi, turning out big batches of his oversized cookies, with help from son Silvio. I met Ilario about 15 years ago, long before I had the idea to write a book about Italian cookies. But as soon as the book started to take shape in my head, I knew I wanted to feature him in it.

I’m also sharing a recipe for Moretti Abruzzesi, chewy chocolate almond macaroons, inspired by the ones Ilario bakes and sells in his shop. The story is free for all to read, and the recipe is available to paid subscribers.

There are two rules that baker Ilario Notarmuzzi never breaks. He does not share his cookie recipes. And, if you want to enjoy his toasty amaretti, oversize mostaccioli, and tender, brownie-like biscotti, and—trust me—you do, you have to go to his bakery in Scanno to buy them. He doesn’t ship, distribute, or sell online.

On the road to Scanno: San Domenico hermitage and Lago di San Domenico

Scanno, population circa 1,700, is not the easiest place in the world to get to. To arrive there, you have to exit the autostrada and drive into the Marsicani Mountains, then deep into the Sagittarius Gorges. It’s a spectacular drive that winds along the shores of two lakes, through narrow stone underpasses, and past a tiny hermitage tucked away on a hillside.

The bakery, named for his mother, opened in 1990, but his family’s baking legacy extends back to the nineteenth century. “My father, who opened this shop, was the son of a fornaio (a bread baker). My mother’s father—my grandfather—opened a bread bakery in 1956. But his grandfather was also a baker. We’ve been covered in flour since the 1800s.”

Ilario has been running the biscotteria for the last decade-plus, with the intention of passing it on to his three sons. You’ll find it down a set of stone steps in the small, well-maintained historic center of this medieval village. The shop is tiny; there’s barely room for three customers at a time to squeeze in. And yet, there is a feeling of expansiveness about the place. The glass-fronted countertop, which doubles as a display case, is brimming with stacks of fat cookies. Ilario welcomes customers with a booming voice. He is by turns jovial and serious, eager to talk about anything from almonds to world politics.

During one of my earliest visits, maybe even the first, Ilario and I had a long conversation in which he laid out his philosophy. Back then, he sported a leather vest and a bandana around his head and looked more like a biker than a baker. And while he does indeed own a Harley-Davidson, he is a baker at heart. “If I give away my recipes, I am giving away my livelihood,” he told me. “And not just mine, but also my sons’.”

To be fair, Scanno is far from dead, and Ilario would be the first to say so. It is one of the Borghi Più Belli d’Italia—“most beautiful villages in Italy”—an official designation bestowed upon small towns and villages that are centers of art, culture, and natural beauty. Among Scanno’s attractions are its jewelers who produce exquisite gold and silver filigree necklaces, earrings, and brooches, and the tombolo artisans who make fine silver-threaded bobbin lace, Ilario’s wife, Luna Piccinini among them. The town is surrounded by mountains and meadows, places where you can ski in winter and hike and swim in summer. There is almost always a sprinkling of tourists about. But Scanno is still very much a place where people live their lives.

When I stop in one day, the biscotteria is filled with the scent of sugar and wine and olive oil. Ilario’s son Silvio is pulling out a fresh batch of wine taralluccci (rings) from the ovens tucked into the back corner of the shop. “This is a cookie beloved by everyone,” Ilario says. “There are four thousand versions, but each one is different, and they are all good.”

While he does not give away his recipes, he does list, in a framed print that hangs in the shop, every ingredient contained in each of his cookies. In fact, he is an absolute stickler when it comes to ingredients: fresh eggs, good olive oil, and—most important—fresh almonds, which he buys whole from Puglia. “The most important part of the almond is the oil,” he tells me. “That’s where all the nutrients and all the flavor are contained. If you start with nuts that have already been shelled and chopped, you are starting with a lesser product.”

He speaks with genuine pride and maybe a little nostalgia, of one of the bakery’s most traditional cookies—biscotti al latte, classic dunking cookies made with sugar, milk, eggs, oil, flour, lemon, and a pinch of leavening. Locally, they used to be known as biscotti della mietatura, or “harvest cookies,” because they were given, along with a glass of wine, to sheepshearers and workers who cut grain. “For many people, that was their day’s wages,” he says. They were also given to children celebrating their First Communion and brought to the homes of ailing neighbors. “It was a cookie for every purpose.”

Ilario’s mostaccioli, flat and round, rather than diamond-shaped (like mine), and larger than a coaster, are typical of Scanno. They are chock-full of almonds and covered in a thin sugar glaze. My mostaccioli are good—really good—but if I’m being honest, Ilario’s are better. My favorite of his offerings are his Biscotti di Prato Verde, or “Green Meadow Cookies.” These chocolate oblongs are made with cocoa powder, finely chopped almonds, and pieces of dark chocolate. The dough is baked as a loaf and sold whole, ready to be sliced. Since they are not baked twice like typical biscotti, they are not crunchy; instead, they have a crisp-tender outer shell and a soft, fudgy interior, a bit like a brownie but slightly firmer, with a deeper, fruitier, and more complex flavor. I haven’t yet come up with my own version, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Or, better yet, go to Biscotteria Artigianale di Liliana Rosati and taste for yourself.

RECIPE: Moretti Abruzzesi

Mini Moretti Abruzzesi, made by me

While I have yet to master Ilario’s mostaccioli, I have come up with an excellent approximation of his Moretti, or chocolate amaretti. If you have a copy of the book, you’ll find the recipe on page 135; it’s a variation of classic Amaretti Abruzzesi, oversize rustic almond amaretti (macaroons).

Ilario uses almonds from Puglia and grinds them on the coarse side for his amaretti. (I use my favorite almonds from Sicily.) A dash of pure almond extract is optional, but I recommend it, especially if you are using almonds from California, which taste earthy, but have less of that true almond flavor. The cookies are satisfyingly chewy, and the almond and cocoa flavors meld together perfectly.