In Basel, taste is a family matter. Cannoli, almond pastries, and arancini trace their roots back to Gravina di Catania. It all began when, at the age of 33, Sebastiano “Iano” Guglielmino - now in his eighties - swore to himself that he would never be a pastry chef again and in 1979 decided to leave for Switzerland in pursuit of a different future. With a background as the owner of a local bar and president of the soccer team, when things went poorly, he was indeed forced to leave behind in Catania a wife, four children, and a profession he thought he had left behind forever.
Instead, it was a custom cake prepared for his sister's birthday that changed his life.
From that sweet creation, a story of emigration, sacrifices, and redemption was born, leading a man from Catania with a fifth-grade education to establish the first Italian pastry shop in Basel. "I was promoted in school only because I had connections – laughs Sebastiano – I’m a die-hard Inter fan and I bet everything on soccer."
And how did he end up in Basel?
"My sister worked there, in an industrial laundry. It was 1979. I left behind what I no longer had, that is, the bar I had sold, my wife, and four children, and I set off. At that time, it wasn’t easy to move the whole family; by law, ten years had to pass. My wife and I entrusted our two sons to a boarding school near Como and the two daughters in the Varese area so that we could visit them frequently. Initially, I found work at a company that washed carpets."
