Old World goodness from Italy has become the material for sacramental grace in a Pennsylvania diocese — and it’s all thanks to one family and a special friendship with a priest.
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Laura and Pino (Giuseppe) Pugliano have lived and promoted the “farm-to-table” experience since opening their olive oil business in West Reading, Pennsylvania, in late 2019. This year they are upping their game. From the Fratelli Pugliano olive groves in rural Calabria, Italy, to the altar of St. Catherine of Siena Cathedral, their pure, unfiltered olive oil was blessed as the Oil of Catechumens and Oil of the Sick and consecrated as the Holy Chrism for the 78 parishes in the Diocese of Allentown.
Aleteia connected with Laura after she posted to the “Catholic Women in Business” Facebook group feed on March 21, “some inspiration and gratitude … in case any fellow mama entrepreneurs aren’t sure if, or how, your business could contribute to building the Church or if you’re serving Christ in what you’re doing … you never know just how God can use you!”
The 14-gallon donation of their “Ciccio’s Olives” olive oil came about through a long-time friendship with Fr. Allen Hoffa, pastor of the Pugliano’s parish, Holy Guardian Angels in Reading. But it’s only one chapter in their story of family, faith, and friendship.
Laura (formerly Ross), a third-generation Italian American, was raised one parish over from the future Fr. Hoffa. The two met when Laura traveled to the 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto with a group the young man was helping lead. They became friends and stayed in touch over the years. Knowing Allen had gone to seminary and was ordained, Laura reached out to now-Fr. Hoffa after she and Pino were engaged. Not only did he lead their marriage prep, but also concelebrated their intimate 2015 wedding in the small parish church in Pino’s hometown parish in Calabria.
Courtesy of the Pugliano family
The Lord needs witnesses in the world
The Pugliano’s story reads like a fairy tale, but it’s the interweaving of faith and family that speaks volumes. After a family trip to Italy as a teenager, Laura fell in love with the language and culture. She majored in English at the Franciscan University of Steubenville but took advantage of the study abroad program in Austria and other studies in Italy.
Surrounded by students majoring in Catechetics and Theology at Franciscan, Laura wondered how, if she wasn’t pursuing a path “directly related to building the Kingdom of God,” she could contribute to the Church’s mission. She was motivated by her father’s example — an insurance agent who loved what he did and encouraged his children to believe in themselves and pursue what they loved — but the college environment caused her to wrestle with her own dreams and direction.
It was also that same environment that helped Laura mature and recognize the value of her call to be faithful, real, and trustworthy in the secular world of work: “Because that’s what the world needs, people in every industry doing exactly that.”
“Ask God to lead and show you what he is calling you to do and do it well,” she encouraged. The young woman realized that the Kingdom was “built” when “every interaction with someone is an opportunity to be Christ … Whether that’s ringing up coffee as a barista, teaching a riding lesson” or running a parish catechetical program.
After graduating in 2008, Laura returned to Italy to work and perfect the language. She reflected it was : “all in God’s plan … because Pino’s parents don’t speak any English. You never know the foundation that’s being set for the greater vision, the greater plan for your life … It was totally God from the beginning.”
Little did Laura know that while she pursued her dreams in Italy, Pino had come to the U.S. in pursuit of his. When people ask why he left Southern Italy’s picturesque Old World, he asks if they’ve ever seen how olives are harvested. Neck bent, long rake in hand, the hard work of jostling fruit from the ancient trees was not the long-term life he wanted.
Courtesy of the Pugliano family
Pino, a trained chef, worked in restaurants before managing the Italian import where Laura’s mother shopped. She noticed the “nice young man” — his work ethic and courtesy — and wanted her daughter (who was “not interested in dating” at the time) to meet him.
Again, Laura sees God’s providence, “in the end, here we are, building up the farm and legacy” he had tried to avoid in his home country.
The inspiration behind their company, “Ciccio’s Olives,” named after Pino’s father Francesco, is the authenticity of pure, unadulterated extra virgin olive oil that “transports you across time and space, connecting the dots between the Old World and the New World, between cultures and languages,” as stated on their website.
In a video on the site’s “Why Ciccio’s” page, Pino shares that when he goes home, he doesn’t take a flight, he takes a time machine. “There’s a rhythm to life in harmony with the land and the families that gather around the table.”
There are more olive trees than people in Pino’s hometown of Vena di Maida in Calabria, the “toe” of Italy’s boot. His 86-year-old father still runs the tractor and is very involved in the farm whose operating manager is Pino’s brother Antonio; both are supported by Pino’s mother Caterina and sister Maria Grazia.
“Whatever your journey, Ciccio’s Olives takes you there.”
Their company tagline is an autobiographical one-liner. Her English major and former marketing job alongside Pino’s chef training and managerial experience is, as Laura sees it, “part of the bigger puzzle.” Ciccio’s Olives would never have been “a thing, if I didn’t know what I know, and he didn’t know what he knows.”
“You don’t have to fit into the box of a certain path to build the Kingdom and have your business as mission,” she said. This mindset runs throughout what the Puglianos are building and sharing with “every person that walks through our door.”
Courtesy of the Pugliano family
Person-to-person is important to the entrepreneur couple who are, first and foremost parents to three children ages 8, 4 and 2. Laura, who has added homeschooling mom to her resume, is intentional about not getting agitated on the days when life is full and she can’t do more for the company.
“First of all, I’m called to be a wife and mother, and I know that they are the most important thing,” she said. She gave a nod to Catholic Women in Business, where she has also shared some of her writing. She says that being part of a community of like-minded women balancing marriage, family and business has been “really beautiful and helpful.”
When they started selling the Puglianos’ imported oil in early 2020, the business was based in their basement, with open houses hosted in their kitchen. In 2025, a brick-and-mortar shop opened, where they also offer cooking classes. They also lead small group tours to Southern Italy where guests experience the regional culture, family farm, and “Fratelli Pugliano” in person.
“We try to show them the beauty of God through creation and relationship without being overtly Catholic… Inspiring them through kindness, teaching them, and building a brand with transparency and authenticity,” Laura shared, reflecting: “We need farmers. We need theologians. We need all these different professions … They’re each valuable in and of themselves, if you’re doing it with clarity and purpose and always bringing it to Christ.”
Courtesy of the Pugliano family
“Money is power, and we all shop our values,” Laura pointed out. The software company she worked for before Ciccio’s was owned by Christians who saw business as mission. They even sponsored “days of mission, where everyone’s still on payroll but doing community service multiple days a year.” She’s seen giving back and uniting around common charity-driven purpose in action, in multiple ways.
“What are we really doing with this company?” she reflected. “What are we trying to bring people into the story of?” Acknowledging Pino’s naturally generous character to donate time and treasure, the couple is “trying to share more than just our product.”
Laura sees how this influences the broader culture and senses that “people want to do business with people who believe in what you believe in.” This goes beyond a commitment to small business practices that respect the earth and uphold people’s dignity by giving them the best quality product to put in their bodies. Aware of the dominant “throwaway culture” and consumeristic mindset, where low prices “equals the ability to have more,” Laura values the lives of her in-laws, detached from the hustle. She even tries to reflect the value and dignity of “quality with simplicity” via their social media marketing.
“It’s really about promoting a certain way of life that brings you back to the Old World — to gather around the table to eat and celebrate as a family with food that’s good for you” — a slower pace and simpler enjoyments.
From Calabria to Allentown
The idea of using Ciccio’s Olives oil as the sacramental oil in the diocese came from Father Hoffa. When he travelled to Calabria for their wedding, he met the extended family and walked the olive groves. Through the Puglianos, he learned about the damaging manufacturing processes used for most available olive oil. The priest asked himself how, if we had access to the purest, highest quality olive oil possible, why would we not use that to match the highest dignity of the sacraments?
After making the necessary connections with the diocese, he approached Laura and Pino. They were shocked and humbled. They were already intentional about other non-consumable uses for their oil, such as skin products and kitchen items from olive wood that’s harvested from trees too old to produce or damaged, but this way of “giving back” has greatly moved and humbled them.
Courtesy of the Pugliano family
“It’s so special to think about our oil being used for every baptism, priestly ordination, and every blessing of someone coming into the Church, and entering the next life …”
Laura said this has been an honor she’ll never forget. “Aa a Catholic woman in business, this is what it’s really all about,” she exclaimed. “We never know how Christ might use us for his Kingdom… He just asks us to be faithful on the journey.”
Courtesy of the Pugliano family
Dining and Cooking