You’ll get a warm Italian welcome at Gio’s in Fountain Inn
Like many of the best stories, it started with the love of a dog.
Maria Natale spent years as a healthcare professional, but when her dog, Giovanni, needed expensive surgery, she started baking and selling Italian breads and cookies to supplement her income. Soon, she was selling at the Fountain Inn Farmers Market and “it took off into something crazy.”
Three years ago, she opened Gio’s, named for the dog that inspired the enterprise—you can see him painted on the front facade, under the phrase “It Cannoli Be Gio’s Pastry Shop, Caffe, and Italian Market.”
The store became a family affair, as she’s often joined behind the counter by her parents, Elena and Ermindo Natale, who hail from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Many guests have taken to calling them Nonna and Nonno, Italian for grandmother and grandfather, due to their kind nature and Elena’s proclivity for sharing pasta recipes and giving free cookies to visiting children.
Maria grew up a first-generation Italian-American in New Jersey, and she developed a love for the items her parents found in local shops: pignoli cookies made with pine nuts and almond paste; scungili, a canned conch often eaten during the holidays; and mafalda, a ribbon-shaped pasta from Naples.
After the entire family moved south, they could no longer find the specialty items they craved. “For me, it’s the nostalgia,” Maria says. “My parents used to take me to a little hole-in-the-wall shop in New Jersey, where they had all these good foods and products. I told my parents, we should bring something like that to the Upstate.”
She stocks Italian and Italian-American finds like Stappi red bitter soda (for cleansing the palate), prepared sauces like bolognese and puttanesca, and even cannoli made just for dogs.
While the shop has a steady following, it’s the bakery that has won numerous accolades and rave reviews. The pastry case is packed with cannoli, mini bomboloni (Italian doughnuts stuffed with cream or Nutella), and the flakiest sfogiatella, a clamshell-shaped pastry filled with ricotta and a hint of citrus.
Saturdays, crowds line up for fresh pastries and breads until she sells out; weekdays are popular among the local workforce for grab-and-go lunches that might include arancini (fried Italian rice balls) or soup made with basil from Maria’s garden.
She appreciates the reactions from her growing legion of fans. “When people say, this reminds me of home, or a place my grandparents used to take me—it’s giving them those memories I have from growing up, and my generation can now give to our kids.”
Gio’s Bestsellers
Cannoli – a crisp shell stuffed with sweet ricotta filling
Tiramisu – coffee-soaked cake with creamy marscapone filling
Sfogiatelle – clamshell-shaped pastries stuffed with ricotta and citrus
Mezzanotte: chocolate tarts with coffee or pistachio fillings
Gio’s Pastry Shop, Caffe and Italian Market, 218-A Main St., Fountain Inn, 864.724.2058
