Antonio Ferrara: Founder

Antonio Ferrara was both a businessman and an active community learder, his name appearing frequently throughout pgaes of Italian dailies.

The success of his business enabled him to participate in charitable causes; he belonged to several community organizations. He was chairman for the Festival of the Tiro a Segno Nazionale Italiana (the Italian Rifle Club) and honorary president of the Circolo Alessandro Salvini in 1904.

He assisted the committee of the Italian Tailors' Mutual Benefit Society fund in 1905, helped fund repairs for a home damaged by fire in 1903, and assisted the American Red Cross fund or the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Victims in 1911. He also tried his hand, less memorably, at entertainment.

In 1892, he opened his caffe at 195 Grand Street so that after theatre or the opera, he and his friends, the artisi, could relax over coffee and play the card game, skopa.

Many bakers who started at Ferrara's went on to start their own bakeries in later years. Former partner Enrico Scoppa and Nicola Alba each opened their pastry shops in Brooklyn.

His caffe (right), celebrating Thanksgiving in 1940, was Antonio Ferrara's success.

Antonio Ferrara poses with his cotterie of pasticcieri (pastry makers).