Pastry shop opens at the Village at Newtown South located just a few doors down from the Newtown Book Store.
Patch Staff
|Updated Fri, Nov 22, 2024 at 3:41 am ET
NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Freshly-filled cannoli, mouth-watering Danish rings, and crispy sfogliatelle filled with semolina and ricotta.
At the newly-opened Santina’s Italian Pastry by Nino at the Village at Newtown South, bakery cases are brimming with Italian pastry favorites, all handmade right at the store and fresh from the oven.
The store is owned by Dana DiLisa, who is running the business end of the operation while her dad, Nino, works his pastry magic in the kitchen, creating batch after batch of Italian goodness.
The shop is a family-owned operation with her mother, Jane Mondello, also helping in the kitchen. Plus the store is named after Dana’s daughter.
“We are so happy to be here. We love Newtown. We now live in Newtown so we’re not just a business here. We look forward to serving all of Newtown and being part of this great community,” said Dana. “We’re hoping Newtown loves us. We’re going to see what Newtown likes and we’ll take it from there.”
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Sfogliatelle is a shell-shaped pastry filled with semolina and ricotta. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
Italian puff pastries topped with strawberries. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
Nino, who was born and raised in Palermo, Sicily, and came to America with his family in 1970 when he was 16 years old, has been making Italian pastries for decades, honing his skills at bakeries in Philadelphia, New York City, and in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, before realizing his dream and opening his own business in 1996.
At Nino's Pastry Shoppe on Quakerbridge Road in Hamilton Township, Nino, Jane and Dana built a reputation for having one of the best Italian pastry shops around known for its cannolis, homemade pies and cakes, Danish (walnut) rings, cookies, and much more.
“We sold the shop in Hamilton and decided to move to Newtown. We’ve always loved Newtown so when a spot became available we jumped on it and Santino’s was born,” said Dana.
In Newtown, the family is again surrounded by cases filled with an assortment of Italian cookies, cakes, and pies, including their popular rainbow and ricotta cookies. They also sell freshly baked Italian bread and homemade sweet breads.
Italian cookies. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
“Everything we do here is fresh and homemade by hand,” said Dana. “Nino makes everything from his own recipes. It’s a lot of work, but when you enjoy it, it’s not work at all.”
The shop specializes in its homemade cannoli from Nino's native Sicily. The tube-shaped shells are prominently displayed above one of the cases and are freshly filled to order with a sweet creamy filling containing ricotta cheese.
So does Dana have a favorite pastry, cake, or bread?
“That’s probably the toughest question I’ve ever been asked,” said Dana. “It’s really hard to nail it down. But if I had to choose it would be the cannoli and the lobster tail (sfogliatelle ricce).”
Since opening last Friday, the response has been wonderful, said Dana. “Everyone is excited to see us open. And so are we,” she added.
The shop - located a few doors down the Newtown Bookshop - is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. They are closed on Monday.
Dana next to a tray of cannoli shells waiting to be custom-filled. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
The shop's popular rainbow cookies. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
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