Artisan tradition: Interview with Alberto Laposse, founder of Panio

Published June 16th, 2022

In Mexico, there are very few restaurants where the family tradition continues for more than a century and are now gastronomic references, as is the case of Panio, located in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

Alberto Laposse, the third generation of the Panio family tradition that began in Italy, tells us everything you should know about this culinary venue.

“My grandfather Giovanni Laposse came to Mexico from Turin, Italy, in 1901 to work in this country with some Italians who had a tea room, better known as El Globo; he is from a French family, but he was born in Italy,” Laposse said.

El Globo was founded in 1884 and was located between the streets that today are known as Madero and Isabel la Católica, it was there where Alberto Laposse’s grandfather came to work; however, he returned to his country of origin and when the Mexican Revolution ended he returned to our country, finding that the family of El Globo decided not to continue with the business, so he took it back and in 1923 became the new owner of the store that was located behind the Palace of Fine Arts, in the Historic Center of Mexico City.

“Now we continue with this Italian confectionery tradition, very old-fashioned like my grandfather’s style. In fact, he was a confectioner; a trade that has been somewhat lost. Even the Laposse candy and chocolate business was made in the Globe about 80 years ago. In the second generation, which consisted of my father and my uncles, there was a separation to become independent: my father stayed with the bread and cake business and my uncles with the confectionery”, said Laposse.

A PASSION IS BORN

Alberto learned the family trade from a very young age, as his father instilled in him the artisan knowledge of baking and pastry making; a culinary passion that persists to this day.

“My father was a very old-fashioned educator, for him, there was nothing better than learning a trade from a very young age. That’s why, on vacations, he would take us to the factory to help out. And, from the age of seven, I played and had fun in the business. My best friends were the bakers,” said Alberto.

As an adult Laposse had to decide what career to study and opted for architecture since he always liked the design and does not believe that one is at odds with the other.

“When my father died I was 24 years old and my brothers and I took over the company three years later, I decided it was time to refresh the knowledge we had learned since I was a child and I went to Paris, France, where I spent two years to study, first at Los Grandes Molinos de Paris and then at Gaston Lenôtre’s gastronomy school.

PANIO IS BORN IN THE WORLD HERITAGE CITY

Alberto had a weekend house in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato in 2000, and returned to Paris, so he decided to transform this place into a hotel designed himself, and to his surprise, he won the best contemporary design of San Miguel de Allende.

“With the success of the hotel, I returned to Mexico and began to miss the croissants, baguettes, and brioches, which were not available in San Miguel de Allende. So, I was encouraged to re-enter the world of pastry and bakery; I am very glad I did,” mentioned Laposse.

Was thus that in 2011 Alberto opened the first bakery, pastry shop, and restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, with a French-Italian style where the sourdough-levain is the main element of the delicacies offered by this place which he named Panio.

“I took the name Panio from a book when I studied in France because com means companion and panio is bread, and the true meaning of companion is the one who shares bread,” said Alberto Laposse.