During the ‘70s, Turin experienced a huge wave of immigrants from Southern regions that moved here to work at FIAT and other major companies. In those years Turin became the third southern city of Italy after Naples and Palermo.

The neighborhood of Barriera di Milano welcomed thousands of people, especially from the Puglia region and in particular from Cerignola, a small town in the province of Foggia.

Together with people came their gastronomic traditions, so in the ’90s Mr. Nicola Ditacchio started doing weekly round trips with his car from Cerignola to Turin (almost 900km one way!) to sell typical products. In 1999 he changed neighborhood and opened the family-run business Tarallificio “Il Covo”.

Apart from a few seasonal biscuits, the shop sells only one product: its majesty the “tarallo”.

Taralli are snack similar to breadsticks but after shaping the dough into ovals they are boiled for a few minutes and then baked. Besides the classic plain ones there are other flavors: fennel (my favorite), onion, chilli pepper, burnt wheat.

You can buy taralli all-day long but come in at 10:00 and 11:30 to have them still warm as they get out of the oven. There is always a queue but time will fly while you look at the historical pictures of Cerignola hung on the walls.

In Italian “covo” means hideout and this place is literally the secret spot where you can have the best taralli in Turin.