Dreams of panna cotta and Rome’s alleyways don’t seem so far away when the creators of Sweetaly Dolceria bring the fresh tastes of Italian sweets to retailers throughout the nation, harkening back to their youth in lo Stivale. My sweet tooth and I needed to know more about the company, its origin story, and where it plans to go next, so I reached out to Co-Founder Michele Santoro—who gave me the latest scoop on Sweetaly’s happenings.

“We’ve always been close friends,” he began, describing the deep-rooted comradery enjoyed amongst Co-Creators Oliviero Colmignoli, Stefano Amelio, and Gaetano Squillante. “We grew up together in Rome and spent all of our holidays together. We always had the idea that we wanted to create a business together.”