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Philadelphia saw a huge wave of Italian immigration from the 1880s through the 1920s, and more than a century later still has about 105,000 residents who claim Italian ancestry, the second highest figure among U.S. cities after New York.
That legacy and living community remain highly visible in place names around South Philly, where many of the immigrants originally clustered — most notably, in the Italian Market along South 9th Street — and in the area’s restaurants and shops that continue to bear the names of their founding families.
Some of the best known are the neighborhood’s cherished Italian bakeries. Once likely numbering in the hundreds, several survived into the 21st century and continue to flourish, turning out hoagie rolls, tomato pies, cannoli and cakes that draw customers from around the city and the region. Some of them, like Isgro Pastries, have won broader acclaim and ship their products nationwide.
They’re also part of the Philadelphia area’s larger, historic baking industry, which sprang up in the rapidly growing city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and remains a vibrant economic force.
The biggest local companies include Amoroso, which produces rolls for cheesesteaks throughout the region; founded by an Italian immigrant family, it was based in West Philly for more than 100 years and moved to New Jersey a decade ago.
Tasty Baking Company, inventor of the Tasty Kake, opened in North Philly in 1914 and is now based in the Navy Yard. Keebler and its famous elves trace their roots to a bakery opened in 1862 at 12th and Christian streets, according to the Philadelphia Encyclopedia.
Today, the local industry encompasses giant firms, midsize producers like Merzbacher’s and Baker Street, and a dizzying array of artisan bakeries, gourmet restaurants, inventive cake and donut places, pretzel companies and specialty shops offering pastries and breads in French, Mexican, Syrian, Chinese, Argentinian, Pennsylvania Dutch, Jewish and other traditions.
South Philly in particular remains a destination for pastry lovers, with favorites like Machine Shop and Mighty Bread — both recognized by the James Beard Foundation — along with the Artisan Boulanger Patissier and Kouklet Brazilian Bakery, among others.
Our list below focuses on the neighborhood’s Italian bakeries, including names you’ll likely recognize and a few that may be new discoveries for people who live elsewhere in Philly or are new to the city.
Isgro Pastries
The venerable queen of the city’s Italian pastry shops, the 122-year-old bakery sees lines down the block before Christmas, Easter and other holidays. Isgro stocks a huge variety of fresh-made cookies, cakes and other pastries, with specialties including filled-to-order cannoli, ricotta cookies, and traditional Italian rum cakes.
1009 Christian St.
Termini Brothers
Two brothers opened the bakery in 1921 and moved it across the street to their flagship location in 1938. When it underwent renovation in 2023, customers snatched up old tiles as souvenirs. Termini is famed for its cannoli, which have been described as having “a thinner shell and a more citrus-forward filling” than Isgro’s, and offers treats like traditional Musticciolli Christmas cookies and coffee ring cakes.
1523 S. 8th St.
Sarcone’s
Multiple generations of Sarcones (Luigi, Peter and three Louis’s) have run the bakery since 1918. It’s best known for its seeded rolls, which are “considered the gold standard for hoagies,” per the Inquirer, and are served in many Philly sandwich shops. Locals also love the cannoli, cookies and thick, “sticky-sweet” tomato pie. (Up the block, Sarcone’s formerly deli space is now home to Angelo’s Pizzeria.)
758 S. 9th St.
Frangelli’s
The bakery opened in 1947, moved to its current home in 1994, and has been owned by baker John Colosi since 2010. Hand-cut, hand-pumped donuts are the stars here — glazed, frosted, jelly, cream, ice cream (!), or filled with cannoli cream and chocolate chips to make the Frannoli, which Colosi invented. There are also traditional cannolis, Italian cream cake, danishes and other sweet delights.
847 West Ritner St.
Varallo Brothers
A pair of Italian immigrant brothers opened the bakery or “pasticceria” in 1981, making it a relative newcomer to the neighborhood. The shop offers several cannoli varieties — among them pistachio, a seasonal pumpkin flavor, and ricotta with chunks of chocolate — along with pies, tiramisu and a dozen other cakes, cookies like amaretti and biscotti, and other traditional pastries.
1639 South 10th St.
New York Bakery
Yes, the name is a little irksome at first, but no one cares after sampling the tomato pie, whose “sweet-tangy gravy” and “crisp yet chewy crust” have put it at the top of best-of lists. Opened in 1926 and run by the Candeloro family since 1945, the store also has pizza, highly praised bread and rolls, brioche, biscuits, croissants, pizza dough to bake at home and much else.
2215 S 11th St.
Cacia’s
Opened in 1953 and still run by the same family, the bakery is lauded for its tomato pie, which “strikes a perfect balance between not too sweet and not too garlicky, with a biscuit-like crust.” It also serves up pretty much everything else — bread and rolls, several types of pizza and stromboli, pies, cakes and cannoli — and every Thanksgiving the Cacias roast more than 100 turkeys in their brick oven for appreciative customers.
1526 W Ritner St.
Faragalli’s
The dense, chewy Italian bread the family has been baking in their wood-fired brick oven since 1948 continues to draw raves, as do their lattice-topped tomato and spinach pastries, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin loaves, and other specialties. Vibration from street construction damaged the oven in 2024 and nearly forced Faragalli’s to close, but community members contributed more than $50,000 toward repairs and the shop reopened after 7 months.
1400 S. 13th St.
