top of page

The «restructured» Panettone


The baker advises: “The best way to enjoy it is with a glass of Brachetto! But of course, my «restructured» Panettone also tastes good with coffee, tea or Prosecco.” I, Davide, prefer a glass of Prosecco with it!



You may be wondering why the Novartis Employees Association NAV is writing an article about Panettone. A quick, sincere and immediate answer would be: “We want to give our members the best, by always giving them the best that we can within the scope of our possibilities!”. This is our DNA. Your rights, your voice and your benefits are very important to us. But what does that have to do with Panettone?



As I sat at my desk in my office in mid-March in my role as an internal employee representative and read countless documents about further restructuring, I felt a knot in my throat and thought about all those who would be impacted by it. I needed a break and something to warm my heart. A friend had just given me a small Colomba - the basic recipe is the same as for a Panettone - to try. She said you don't have to go to Italy to eat good Panettone. Last year, the NAV had Panettoni imported from Italy for its members.



This Panettone, however, came from St. Gallen, from master baker Pietro Cappelli. Not only had the friend driven to eastern Switzerland to buy it, but she had also been willing to wait in a long queue to actually get it.



Well, I said to myself, it's time to taste it and since I'm not allowed to drink Prosecco in the office, I decided to make myself a cappuccino. Yes, in the afternoon, as my German friends had taught me. Because you can still drink a cappuccino in the afternoon, and I must admit that it still tastes good even then.



But back to the Panettone, more precisely to the Colomba, which was still on the table, this time accompanied by the cappuccino. I won't tell you how I felt when I tasted it, but what I can tell you is that I immediately tracked down Pietro Cappelli's phone number.



I dialed his number and surprisingly he personally answered the call. I told him I wanted to meet him and invited him to the Campus in Basel. Pietro was very surprised and hesitated to accept the invitation. He told me he had a lot of work and that his small business would never be able to produce huge quantities of Panettone. He was certainly thinking about the ten thousand Novartis employees and possible orders.



I smiled to myself and replied that I will never order ten thousand Panettoni, but surely some people would appreciate not having to travel to St. Gallen and wait in line to try his award-winning Panettone.



And yes, that's what we're talking about: Gold for the best Panettone in Switzerland. Because Pietro Cappelli, the famous St. Gallen baker who has been known for his success for many years, has customers who even travel from Austria, he confirmed this to me personally.



In the morning, when it smells of fresh bread at Linsebühlstrasse 80 in St. Gallen, people are said to be lining up in front of the small bakery where Pietro and his wife bake their Panettoni with passion all year round.



The friendly master baker, who by the way speaks perfect St. Gallen dialect, has been running his business there for almost 40 years. I actually managed to lure him away from the good smell of St. Gallen to Basel, where in the not-so-distant past it was not the smell of fresh Panettone, but unpleasant chemical smells that wafted through Klybeck in particular. Well, a few weeks after our first contact, Pietro confirmed to me by phone that he would be coming to Basel. This news filled me with great joy because it would bring me a little closer to my goal, which I won't tell you yet.



He enters the Campus and as soon as I see him, he reminds me of Santa Claus, not because he has a white beard, but because he brings a huge amount of Panettone, a good dozen varieties. However, I must admit to Pietro that I prefer the timeless, classic version. The recipe is: flour, butter, egg yolks, water. Everything kneaded with mother yeast. Pietro talks openly about his product. However, no one knows how to make it as well as he does. "At the end, candied fruits and sultanas are added. This is the classic Panettone," he explains and then looks at me questioningly: "You have to tell me what I'm doing here on Campus," and adds that the father of his future son-in-law is a medical doctor in Basel and told him he absolutely had to go to Campus if he received an invitation from Novartis.



So, my powers of persuasion weren't that great after all, I must admit contritely, but I think to myself with a smile on my face: Thank you, the Basel doctor! Meanwhile, Pietro talks about fruity, light flavors such as mandarin or lemon, picking up each Panettone, proud of his product, as he should be.



Winter and Christmas flavors such as chestnut, cinnamon or apple-cinnamon, but also chocolate and caramel are also represented in its range all year round. And then he repeats: "You have to finally tell me why I came to Campus."



“We have excellent researchers,” I answer, “academic and non-academic, who work every day to achieve something special, to do good things for people who are not feeling well without our excellent medication. They want things to get better for them. You too are doing something good for your fellow human beings. After I ate your Colomba, I felt a little better. It didn't solve my worries, but it did me good in that very moment. I was given the right energy and attitude to continue my work and help others."



And further: "Pietro, I want my dear friends in Basel, who work with so much commitment and love, despite many difficulties - the endless restructuring came to mind - to have the opportunity to enjoy a Panettone without driving an hour and a half and having to wait in line at your store. They’ve all waited many times in their working lives and basically stood in line in the rain!”



And suddenly, perhaps because we are on the Campus that was designed and built to make people innovative and creative, Pietro says: We are going to create a Basel Panettone and I'm trying to win a medal with it. But what makes a Basel Panettone, we ask ourselves? "Well, in Basel we have the famous Läckerli, how about we make a Panettone with a slight Läckerli note and call it 'Panettone Basilea'?" I interject. In any case, Pietro wants to experiment in his bakery to find the right recipe, he promises me.



Well, dear reader, I don't know if you will one day try the Panettone Basilea with the Läckerli note. For now, you can order a classic Panettone via NAV. It will certainly make you feel good about the little things in life, even if just for a moment.


Thank you, Pietro Cappelli!




bottom of page