The smile of the marionettes
“The biscuit turned out really good!” said Luigi Giacomo Milesi, known to everyone as Bigio.
It was 1932, and in San Pellegrino Terme, with all its Liberty-style charm, the Biscotto Bigio was born from its namesake founder: a golden, buttery half-moon that is still made the same way today.
Luigi “Bigio,” besides being a pastry chef, was also a puppeteer. During his shows, he would gift his sweet half-moons to the audience: children used them to make moustaches, eyebrows, smiles… And so, Bigio’s puppets came to life — thanks, in part, to a biscuit.
Moms, do you know why your baby is crying? Because they want the San Pellegrino biscuit!
Luigi’s mask was Gioppino, and at the end of each show he would greet him like a friend: with a bow, a biscuit, and a phrase that still makes us smile today: “Here, Gioppì, be happy, have a Bigio.”
After a quarrel with his father, Luigi received a collection of puppets as a gift. It was a gesture of peace, but also a revelation: Bigio turned puppetry into a way of life, an extra soul alongside his work as a pastry chef, which he treated with the same love and care.
Today, the Burattini Bigio are still with us, in the pastry shop and in the hotel hall to remind us that a biscuit can become a smile.
That stories, if they are beautiful, never really end.
And that Luigi, from behind the scenes, is still ready to make us smile.
The Biscuit of San Pellegrino
We call it “il Bigio”, almost like a dear friend.
For nearly a hundred years, this biscuit has been part of every welcome: you’ll find it at breakfast, in your room, even decorating the wallpaper. A golden, buttery half-moon is our sweetest way of saying welcome.
