Franco and Anna Palamides have been baking cannoli, almond cookies and airbrushed cakes at 1018 DeKalb Pike for more than three decades, making Roma Bakery Pastry Shop one of Whitpain Township's longest-running family businesses.

The bakery earned a fresh spotlight on Thursday, Aug. 6, when Around Ambler featured it as Blue Bell's entry in a roundup of 12 Montgomery County bakeries serving international flavors.

Anna Palamides moved from Civita Castellana, Italy, to the United States in 1989 and opened the shop with her father, according to the bakery's website. She handles cake decorating and airbrush artistry. Franco, an award-winning pastry chef, keeps the cases stocked with miniature Italian pastries, chocolate confections and holiday specialties.

The couple's roots show up in the recipes. Franco's hazelnut biscotti traces back to his mother, Margherita, and the province of Viterbo in central Italy.

"My family is from Faleria. The recipe is from my mom, Margherita," Franco wrote on the bakery's product page, describing the twice-baked cookies as a tradition from Tuscia, the historical Etruscan region that coincides with Viterbo.

That kind of generational connection runs both ways. Customer Alexa Manzo wrote on the bakery's testimonials page that her family has ordered Roma cakes for every milestone, from her christening through her engagement party.

The shop's menu spans birthday, wedding, graduation and religious cakes alongside its Italian cookie trays and biscotti. Roma also offers wholesale accounts and online ordering through its website.

Roma Bakery Pastry Shop is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The shop is closed Monday. Orders can be placed by phone at 610-275-5535.