Arte & Farina

The bakery and pastry shop, Arte & Farina, stands out a bit in its Ontario Street location. Not that the style of the shop is particularly showy; if anything, seeing the two owner-artisans' work area, it could be seen as a serious place.

In the foreground of the shop's window are cookbooks stacked on shelves, but what really grabs one's attention is that Arte & Farina is a bona fide Italian business. "I studied some of the history of Montreal and this neighbourhood was the first Italian place in Montreal," says pastry chef Sandro Carpené. "There aren't many Italian businesses here now, but the neighbourhood is developing very well," he adds, referring to the decision to open the bakery here.

Sandro arrived in Quebec in 2010 with a solid background in catering in Italy where, after five years of training, he worked in several restaurants and hotels. In Montreal, he has worked at Buonanotte and ran another food business at the Jean-Talon market, before founding Arte & Farina in 2014 with Mirko D'Agata, the "savoury" half of the partnership.

Mirko, a pizzaiolo who specializes in Neapolitan pizza, was the head baker in Italy under the notable guidance of Gianfranco Fagnola, a world-renowned master baker. There he learned and perfected the techniques for making many varieties of pizza. When he came to Montreal 2012, Mirko worked at Bottega restaurant before embarking on his adventure with Sandro and opening Arte & Farina.