An Italian man who invented almond
panettone and turned his father's pastry shop into a global
business died at 91 at the weekend.
Knight of Labour Aldo Balocco, honorary president of the Balocco
baking giant, came up with the almond version of the famed
Italian cake in the 1970s and it featured as "the tastest and
best" in iconic TV ads from then through the 1980s featuring
famed dancing twins the Kesslers Sisters as well as showgirl
Heather Parisi.
Balocco started out in his father's shop, opened in 1927
opposite the Castello dei Principi di Aaja at Fossano near Cuneo
in northern Italy.
At the age of just 20 he convinced his father to bank on dry
cakes and produce products to be sold wholesale.
BY the 1980s he had turned the business into a colossus with a
turnover of more than 200 million euros and a presence in over
70 countries.
"He will be remembered by all for his gifts of honesty,
humanity, altruism and extraordinary sense of duty," said the
firm in a tribute.
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