This Century-Old Colorado Italian Market Still Makes Family Recipes From Scratch

I have a soft spot for old bakeries that still feel useful, not preserved for nostalgia.

This Colorado favorite has been part of its community for more than a century, and the draw goes well beyond one signature item.

House-made sausage, cookies, prepared foods, pasta, and imported pantry staples keep the market connected to everyday life rather than just its history.

I know it sounds simple, but that is exactly why it works.

A paper bag lunch from a place like this can feel more memorable than a fancy meal somewhere new.

Tradition matters most when people still choose it, and this bakery seems to understand that.

A Century Of Sicilian Roots

Gagliano’s was established in 1921 by Joe Giuseppe Gagliano and Carmela Gagliano, the same year Pueblo endured its historic flood. That timing alone says something about stubbornness.

The market began as a neighborhood grocery serving Pueblo’s Italian community, including families connected to the nearby steel mill.

The family-owned business celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2021 and continues operating from its longtime Elm Street location.

The business endured the Great Depression, World War II, and major changes in Pueblo, and it temporarily closed its storefront for more than a year during the pandemic before reopening.

What surprised me most was how little fuss surrounds that history. No museum displays, no timeline on the wall, just an older gentleman greeting customers like they wandered into his kitchen.

Anthony and Josephine still keep watch while Vince handles the heavier lifting. Three generations moving through one narrow aisle is a sight worth catching.

You will find all of it at 1220 Elm St in Pueblo, tucked into a quiet residential block.

Sausage Made The Old Way

Italian sausage remains one of the products most closely associated with Gagliano’s.

Vince Gagliano said the family continued using spices sourced from the same companies for more than 75 years.

Vince Gagliano has described the commercial sausage as being made fresh each week with premium pork.

Choices run wider than expected. Mild, hot, and Pueblo chile Italian sausage are among the varieties the family has produced. The family has also produced variations including Pueblo chile chorizo, alongside other sausage styles.

A USDA-inspected processing operation expanded Gagliano’s sausage production for restaurant and grocery customers.

The sausage comes in bulk, link, and patty form, so shoppers can pick the shape that suits whatever they are cooking.

Green chile for the Pueblo chile batches is sourced from local growers, which ties one of the market’s signature products to the surrounding farmland.

Gagliano’s has supplied sausage to Pueblo grocery stores and local restaurants, including Safeway and Albertsons at the time of its commercial expansion.

Cookies Baked In Back

Cookies are baked in the back of the market, where family members continue handling much of the food preparation.

Fig cookies, ladyfingers, pizzelles, and other Italian cookies have all been part of Gagliano’s bakery selection.

Ladyfingers show up too, along with assorted fruit filled varieties that shift with the season and whoever is baking that morning.

Vince has described family members helping make ladyfingers, potica, pizzelles, and other baked goods. Availability can vary because many of the baked goods are produced in batches by the family.

Holiday baking has long been part of the market’s tradition, with cookies and other specialty foods prepared for the season.

Fig cookies have a following well past Pueblo, with longtime customers shipping boxes of them to relatives around the country at Christmas.

Potica, a rolled sweet bread the market has sold for generations, turns up alongside the cookies and tends to move quickly once it appears.

Much of the cookie baking takes place in the market’s back kitchen behind the deli counter.

Potica, Pueblo’s Sweet Secret

Potica, a sweet rolled bread with Slovenian roots, has long been one of the specialty baked goods sold at Gagliano’s.

Gagliano’s has described its potica as a walnut-and-honey sweet bread.

Potica became part of Pueblo’s broader food culture as Italian, Slovenian, and other immigrant communities built neighborhoods around the region’s mills and mines.

Texture is the selling point. Soft bread, rich filling, just sweet enough without tipping into dessert territory. Family members have continued making potica as part of the market’s baked-goods production.

Coffee and a thick slice make a solid breakfast, and toasting leftovers the next morning works even better.

Potica is especially associated with holiday food traditions in Pueblo, so checking availability ahead of a seasonal visit is sensible. Potica is sold alongside the market’s other cookies and baked specialties.

Shoppers have also found it in the market’s freezer case, which is worth a look when the fresh batches have already sold out.

Colorado has plenty of specialty bakeries, but this particular bread carries a story about neighbors sharing recipes.

Sixty Pasta Cuts Waiting

The market has long carried an unusually broad assortment of pasta cuts alongside other Italian groceries.

Shelves carry a large assortment of boxed and bagged pasta along with imported Italian groceries. Homemade pasta has long been part of Gagliano’s product lineup alongside packaged pasta varieties.

Prepared Italian foods, pasta, sauces, and other take-home items are part of the market’s broader selection.

The family has put the count at roughly 60 different cuts of pasta, a range most neighborhood groceries never attempt.

Imported tomatoes and other Italian pantry staples fill out the rest of the order, so the components of a full meal come from a single trip.

House made sauces sit nearby, which makes assembling dinner almost suspiciously easy. Pick a shape, pick a sauce, done. Gluten free shoppers are not forgotten either, with specialty flour, pasta and even frozen ravioli on hand.

The wide pasta selection gives shoppers many shapes to compare before choosing one for a meal. Staff can help shoppers navigate the market’s broad Italian grocery selection.

Gagliano’s has carried far more pasta varieties than a typical small neighborhood market.

Olive Oil From Sicily

The market sells organic extra-virgin olive oil from Pagano Farms in Lucca Sicula, Sicily, connected to Josephine Gagliano’s family.

In 2020, Vince Gagliano said the family imported about 1,000 liters of the olive oil each year.

The oil is organic extra virgin and has picked up awards, though nobody behind the counter makes a big production about it.

The family-sourced oil can be used with bread, vegetables, beans, and other simple dishes. Imported tomatoes, spices, polenta, candies, and other Italian pantry products add to the grocery selection.

Lupini beans and artichokes show up too, tucked between jars you did not know you needed.

Shopping here works best without a strict list. Wander, read labels, and let curiosity fill the basket. The family-sourced bottles are part of the Italian pantry selection on the market shelves.

The olive oil comes from Josephine Gagliano’s family farm in Italy, giving the product a direct family connection to Sicily.

Sandwiches Worth The Detour

Grab a paper bag near the deli counter, write down what you want, and hand it over. That is the whole system.

The muffuletta is one of the market’s popular sandwiches, made with salami, ham, capicola, provolone, and the family’s olive spread.

Other options have included combinations of capicola, salami, mortadella, ham, turkey, roast beef, and provolone.

Sandwich availability can end before the market closes, so checking ahead is sensible for a late-afternoon visit.

If a sandwich is the main reason for visiting, arriving earlier in the day or confirming deli service ahead of time is safer.

Gagliano’s is not a sit-down restaurant; its cold-cut sandwiches are prepared to go. Parking on Elm Street runs tight, especially midday, so patience helps. Consider it part of the experience.

Gagliano’s Italian Market wraps everything quickly, and the pace behind the counter is friendly but efficient. One half now, one half later is the veteran strategy. I have never managed it in one sitting.

Cozy Chaos, Genuine Warmth

The market has narrow aisles packed with Italian groceries, deli products, and specialty foods.

The close quarters create the feel of an old neighborhood grocery rather than a modern supermarket.

Tony Gagliano was still working at the front register when the Denver Gazette profiled the market in 2024.

Staff answer questions without rushing, and they will explain how to cook something if you admit you have no clue.

Current listed hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with Sunday closed.

Much of the market’s appeal comes from maintaining its longtime neighborhood-grocery character while continuing to serve current customers. Customers have traveled from outside Pueblo to shop at the longtime family market.

Family members continue working together throughout the market and its food-production operation.

The family’s sweet Italian sausage reaches well beyond Elm Street, stocked at grocery stores around Pueblo County and served at restaurants in town.

Signature batches are mixed with Pueblo green chile sourced from local farms, and the shelves carry imported pasta, Italian cookies, potica, and the family’s own olive oil from Sicily.

More than a century after opening, Colorado’s Gagliano’s continues selling family-made sausage, baked goods, prepared foods, sandwiches, and Italian groceries from its Elm Street market.