About

A Tuscan Art with a London Heart

Santo cielo means good heavens. It's what people said the first time they tried the bread, so we kept it.

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The Dal Firenze schiacciata standing in a red Santo Cielo box on a wooden table against a red wall: fennel salami, provolone, pecorino and rocket

Tuscan art. London heart.

How we make the bread

Behind the counter

Forty seconds inside the shop

Dough to sandwich. See what we're all about.

How we make the bread

What schiacciata is

Schiacciata is a flat Tuscan bread. The name means squashed.

It's slow fermented, pressed flat by hand, covered in olive oil and baked until the top blisters. Softer than focaccia. Lighter than a baguette.

In Florence people queue for it at lunch. We stood in those queues for years, then decided to make it here.

A Santo Cielo schiacciata up close: open crumb, golden crust, prosciutto, burrata and rocket in a red box

We make the bread

MixedRestedBaked

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How we make it

A lot of places sell sandwiches. Not many make their own bread every day. We do, and it's the whole point.

Freshly mixed schiacciata dough bubbling in a tub during bulk fermentation at the Santo Cielo bakery — **Mixed from scratch**Wildfarmed flour, water, salt, olive oil. Mixed by hand at our site in London. Nothing bought in.

Racks of trays holding slowly fermenting schiacciata dough glistening with olive oil — **Slow fermented**The dough rests and ferments slowly. That's where the flavour and the open crumb come from.

A freshly baked golden schiacciata slab with a blistered salted crust on the bakery rack — **Baked every morning**Stretched by hand and baked on site every morning. Never day old. Never frozen.

Florence to London

We're building the modern Italian sandwich shop in London

Santo Cielo started with a suitcase, a dough recipe and the idea that London should have schiacciata as good as Florence. Founded by Sam and Tommy, who still bake and still work the counter. We tested the recipe against London flour, London water and London weather until it tasted right.

Now every loaf is baked in Islington each morning and filled with ingredients we're happy to name. Cheese from Fratelli Amodio. Cured meat from Coombeshead Farm. Good olive oil.

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A Santo Cielo baker in the red OG cap, white tee and apron on the street outside the shop in Islington, flowers on the wall behind

Fewer food miles

British where we canDelivered by cargo bike

Who we buy from

Sustainability

Italian sandwiches, with ingredients that don't travel far.

Where we can, we buy British.

FlourWildfarmed grain grown in British fields

CheeseFratelli Amodio cheese made in the UK from British milk

MeatCoombeshead meat cured in Cornwall

DeliveryOur London deliveries go by Pedal Me cargo bike

Our London deliveries go by Pedal Me cargo bike. No emissions, and riders who are employed properly.

Our London delivery partner. Cargo bikes, so no emissions. Riders are full time employees, trained and paid properly. That matters to us.

Visit Pedal Me

Who we buy from

FlourCheeseMeat

Suppliers

We choose ingredients from people who make them properly. These are the main ones.

WildfarmedOur flour

Caseificio Fratelli AmodioOur cheese

Coombeshead FarmOur meat

Wildfarmed Flour

Wildfarmed grow grain in regenerative fields, without pesticides, fungicides or herbicides. We use their 00 pizza flour and protein flour for the schiacciata.

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A Santo Cielo baker on the red Vespa holding a 16kg sack of Wildfarmed white bread flour, with a sack of Wildfarmed pizza flour on the rack

Caseificio Fratelli Amodio Cheese

Italian style cheese made in the UK from fresh British milk. Mozzarella, burrata, stracciatella and ricotta. It goes in most of our sandwiches.

Follow Fratelli Amodio

Inside the Fratelli Amodio cold room: a Santo Cielo baker in a Caseificio Fratelli Amodio jacket beside shelves of burrata

Coombeshead Farm Meat

A farm in Cornwall. Mangalitza pigs and Dexter cows, outdoor reared and butchered on site. Their hams are salted for six weeks and air dried for months. Good cured meat is hard to find in the UK. This is it.

Visit Coombeshead Farm

Coombeshead Farm in Cornwall: stone farmhouse and barns behind a field of Dexter cattle and sheep in evening light

What we believe

Three things

Bread comes first

Good fillings can't fix tired bread. Ours is baked every morning.

Good ingredients

From Italy when it's better. From Britain when it's fresher.

Fill it properly

A sandwich should be generous. Ours are.

Two hands holding a stack of three cut schiacciata sandwiches against a red wall

Islington

Come and try it

Unit 5, 149 Roman Way, N7 8XH. Monday to Friday, 10 to 6.

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