In San Marzano sul Sarno, Vincenzo Faiella has built a pastry business rooted in family training, specialist work in natural leavening, and a decision to keep production tied to his own shop.
His career began in the family business in San Marzano sul Sarno and developed through specialist training in natural leavening. His official biography dates that first experience to around twelve years old, while the account published by Luciano Pignataro describes his departure for Liguria at fourteen. Both accounts agree on the essential point: pastry was learned early, at work.
That early start was followed by training with pastry makers including Toty Catanese, Alfonso Pepe, Morandin, Zoia and Tonti. Faiella then spent sixteen years at Pasticceria De Vivo, a long period that gave him both technical and organisational experience.
A return home
Faiella returned to San Marzano sul Sarno in 2019 and opened his own small shop in 2020. The business then grew in stages: a move to a larger site in July 2024, followed by an expansion of the laboratory and office spaces in 2025.
The business now occupies approximately 1,000 square metres across three floors. During the Christmas season, production reaches about 20,000 panettoni. Those figures come from the publication's reporting and Faiella's own statements; no independently audited production data was found.
Natural leavening at the centre
Natural leavening is central to Faiella's work, particularly in panettone, pandoro and colomba. His official biography and the profile published by APEI, the association of Italian pastry chefs, credit him with winning the FIPGC "Miglior Panettone del Mondo" title in both 2019 and 2020.
The research does not provide independent judging records for those awards, but the claim is consistent across his official biography and the APEI profile.
What the shop makes
The pastry shop makes traditional Neapolitan pastries, festive sweets, breakfast products, chocolate and modern cakes. Production is organised into distinct departments.
That range matters for visitors. The Christmas offer centres on panettone, while pandoro and colomba belong to their respective festive seasons. Alongside them, the shop produces everyday lines for breakfast and the counter, traditional festive Campanian pastries, chocolate, and modern cakes.
A second practical point is where the products are sold. Faiella keeps production tied to the local shop and does not supply bars or other external businesses. Visitors looking for his products will find them at the pastry shop itself, at Largo De Gasperi 16/17 in San Marzano sul Sarno, rather than through a wider wholesale network.
The value of the trade
His stated professional philosophy combines technical skill with patience, continued training, respect for ingredients and transmission of knowledge to younger workers.
It is a straightforward statement of craft: learn the technique, respect the ingredients, keep training, and pass the work on. In San Marzano sul Sarno, that philosophy has taken the concrete form of a three-floor workshop, a defined festive production, and a shop that sells what it makes.
