The Origin of Scali Bread: A Fitchburg Original

If you grew up in Massachusetts, you're probably familiar with Scali Bread, a braided loaf, covered in sesame seeds, which is soft and light. 

I grew up with Scali bread, and enjoyed plenty of sandwiches between two thin and long slices of this bread. The origins of Scali bread are murky, and most sources allege that it was created by the Scali family in the North End, but none of those sources offers a shred of evidence to prove their claim. No one provides a specific date of its creation, or can name the first bakery to produce it. No one offers the first names of those in the Scali family who were part of its creation. The allegation simply sounds appealing to people, despite the lack of any proof. 

I've done my own research, and found evidence that Scali bread likely originated in Fitchburg, in 1941, at the Sunlight Bakery. I didn't find evidence of Scali bread in Boston until the 1950s, and none of those references dealt with the North End. I didn't find evidence of the involvement of the Scali family, and I have my own alternative theory for the reason for its name. 

The first documented reference I found for Scali bread was in the Fitchburg Sentinel, February 12, 1941. There was a large ad for Brockelman's Bros Inc., and part of that ad mentioned the offerings from their Sunlight Bakery, including "New Tasty Crusty Italian Scali Bread" for 12 cents. This indicates the bread was something new, although it doesn't describe the bread in much detail, or indicate the reason for the name. 

The Brockelman's Brothers opened a small grocery store at 400 Green Street in Fitchburg in 1887. By 1936, this small store had grown to a small chain, with locations in Clinton, Fitchburg, Framingham, Gardner, Lawrence, Leominster, Lowell, Nashua, and Worcester. Their Sunlight Bakery produced all of their own breads and other baked goods. And throughout the 1940s, they would be the only store in Massachusetts advertising Scali bread! That's certainly indicative that they invented the bread. 

Why call it Scali bread? In Italian, the word "scali" translates as "stairs, terraces or steps," and derives from an older word that translates as "ladder." When you look at the braided Scali loaf, it can resemble a ladder, so it's my theory is that is why the bread acquired its name. 

The Fitchburg Sentinel, February 11, 1947, also had a large ad for Brockelman's Supermarkets, and offered "Scali Bread (Italian)" for 15 cents. A few months later, in April 1947, the price of Scali had risen to 16 cents. And by December 1950, the price of their Scali bread had risen to 19 cents. 

The first mention of Scali bread outside of the Brockelman's Brothers in Fitchburg occurred in the Boston Sunday Herald, April 2, 1950. The newspaper had a large ad for the new Waltham Super Market, in Waltham, which had its own bakery and offered Scali bread for only 12 cents. Both of these grocery stores were baking their own Scali bread, and weren't buying it from elsewhere.

The first mention of Scali bread in Boston didn't appear until 1957, sixteen years after is appearance in Fitchburg. The Boston Globe, April 23, 1957, printed an ad for the Elm Farm, a chain of Boston-area supermarkets, offering Scali bread for 21 cents. Interestingly, the Scali bread appears to have been packaged in a plastic wrapper like many commercial breads, rather than the clear plastic Scali bread more commonly seen today. 

An ad in the Boston Globe, April 30, 1958, explained the source of the Scali bread at the Elm Farm, noting it was "Baked fresh...Sold fresh every day" and delivered by Warren's. This was probably the Warren Baking Co., an Italian and French bakery that was once located in Cambridge. We also see that the Scali was packaged in a plastic bag resembling what you might see for Wonder Bread. Again, there was no connection to the North End. 

The Boston Sunday Herald, April 26, 1959, had a small ad for the Mazzola Bros., French and Italian bakers, located in Newton, who also made "Sliced Italian Scali Bread."

It wouldn't be until the 1960s and 1970s that there started to be mentions of Scali bread in the North End, although none of the references ever claimed that Scali bread originated there. Scali bread eventually became a staple at many Italian bakeries in the North End, so people began to assume that is where it originated. However, it's far more likely that it was first created in Fitchburg in 1941. During the 1940s, there weren't references to Scali bread from any other source. It wouldn't be until the 1950s that other sources were mentioned, in Waltham, Cambridge and Newton. Not the North End.