Voltaggio, province of Alessandria. We are in Piedmont, but only according to today’s administrative criteria. In reality, here it is still Liguria, or rather Genovesato, that strip of land that is historically linked to Genoa and that rises from the sea to plunge over the Apennines towards the plains. For example, Voltaggio itself became part of the Republic of Genoa in the 12th century and only in 1859 did it pass to the province of Alessandria, thus becoming Piedmont. Even on a gastronomic level, this territory is a fluid area that is influenced by the two neighbouring regions; traditions, recipes and foods – Ligurian and Piedmontese – are reinterpreted according to local tastes.
But the history of the amaretti morbidi di Voltaggio (soft macaroon) starts even further north – well beyond Alessandria, Turin or Piedmont. It is 1899 and an acquaintance of Luigia Cavo, the town baker, brings her a present from France: a pastry made with almond paste. Luigia likes this pastry so much that she decides to invent her own version: she makes a first attempt based on the memory of the tasting and only after a few attempts can she finally be satisfied with her recipe.

Let us come to the present day. More than a century has now passed since that day in 1899 when Luigia Cavo fell in love with those pastries brought as a gift from France, and her amaretti continue to be made in the bakery in Voltaggio: at the Carrosio bakery, her great-grandchildren – Luca and Giovanna – keep alive the tradition of soft amaretti by preparing them just as their aunt did. But what makes these amaretti so special compared to all the others?
The shape, which makes them resemble little mountains, is so characteristic that it is difficult to confuse them, although paradoxically there will never be a Voltaggio soft amaretti that is the same as another because they are all formed by hand. This aspect is not an artistic quirk or an aesthetic choice but is due to a delicate stage during the preparation of the amaretti, when the dough is portioned onto the baking tray before baking: after they have been placed on the tray, the balls of dough are pinched with three fingers and in this way they will be baked evenly.
The choice of raw material is also important! Among the ingredients, the one that most defines the taste of the amaretto is the sweet almond, which Panificio Carrosio gets directly from Apulia: these sweet Apulian almonds are then chopped together with a part of bitter almonds and finally mixed by hand with egg white and icing sugar. The almonds must always be checked because if they are too fresh, there is a risk that, as soon as they are taken out of the oven, the amaretti will sag.
A few ingredients, a lot of responsibility: if the raw material is not excellent, you can immediately feel it. This is why for the production of Voltaggio’s soft amaretti we do not use armellinas, which are present in many of the amaretti recipes from other areas, because the Carrosio Bakery believes that while providing the characteristic ‘amaretto-like’ flavour, armellinas are of lower quality than bitter almonds. Armellinas, in fact, are not almonds but are the seeds found inside the kernel of apricots and peaches.



