Fobello is a small mountain village, certified with the Orange Flag by the Italian Touring Club, located in Val Mastellone, a side valley of Valsesia, in the province of Vercelli. The town currently has around two hundred inhabitants, many of whom are very active and committed to maintaining the territory and the socio-economic fabric. They are all stories of resilience, of will, of love for the territory and of tenacity.
An example of this tenacity is the work of Anna Maria Tirozzio, who handcrafts mountain biscuits in the Alta Valsesia Natural Park. It is absolute excellence that allows her to lead a difficult, niche business. They are the “Biscutin dal Strii”, the witches’ biscuits. Anna Maria recounts, smiling, “Legend has it that in a particular area of the forest, where a clearing still opens up, where an extraordinary light passes, especially at dawn and dusk, witches gathered to celebrate their Sabbath. Surely a hint of witchcraft is also found as an arcane ingredient in my creations.”
First of all, however, this excellence is based on the highest quality ingredients, mostly sourced from the local area: butter, eggs, Sobrino flour, mountain millefiori honey, and 90% rhododendron honey.
Fourteen different types of cookies are created, which are then sold all over the world, from the United States to Japan.
But it’s in Fobello that cookie tasting is at its best: above a thousand meters, in fact, oxygen is rarer and all the flavors intensify. Anna Maria decided to reinvent her life at fifty by opening this workshop, recovering old family recipes and focusing on the highest possible quality. It is thanks to the success of her biscuits that she was able to afford to stay and live in Fobello.
This is the website (in italian) for more info.
