About Us

Denise DiNorscia Williams, President and CPO (Chief Pizzelle Officer) a 30-year marketing veteran and entrepreneur, was living in San Jose, CA in the height of the .com boom.  The East Coast marketing agency for which she worked relocated her to the West Coast to support a new technology client, and it was there in the heart of the Silicon Valley she conceptualized Bellapizzelle LLC, the Beautiful Cookie Company.  She continued to lead marketing innovation for her agency, but on the side, she organically grew a small self-funded start-up business to a formidable artisanal cookie company. As a true advocate of the authentic Italian specialty cookie and small-batch manufacturer, Denise quickly distinguished the pizzelle from the cracker “look alike.”

Denise launched Bellapizzelle in 2002 in her mother’s kitchen then built a custom pizzelle kitchen in 2004 in her home. For the last 21 years, she has improved recipes, processes and has acquired retail customers via web; partnered with a French Chocolatier for a S’mores package, supported wineries and other venues with taste-testing, and now supplying a variety of the regions gourmet stores, eateries and cafes with her pizzelle. 

Denise and her family learned American Sign Language (ASL) to support Bible education for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.  She also hires local deaf employees and offers a safe, fair, and comfortable environment without discrimination and where she is able to communicate with them using their language.

As for the pizzelle, the cookie in its true form (also known as Neole or Ferratelle) originated in Abruzzo Italy. The DiNorscia family immigrated to Maine from the Abruzzo region of central Italy and took the pizzelle recipe with them.

The family lived in Penne, a town in the province of Pescara.  Penne sits in the hills between the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic Sea.  As an Au Pair couple, the late Sopino and Frances Gale DiNorscia worked for clients in Madison, Maine. Later, Sopino was involved in the logging industry, and then the agricultural interests of the DiNorscia’s took them to Kennett Square, PA, known as The Mushroom Capital of the World. 

Denise’s father worked along his father’s newly found passion of mushroom growing, and later inherited the business which he worked hard to make successful until his retirement in 1978.  The entrepreneurial spirit of Anthony “Little Tony” DiNorscia carried on in Denise “Dede,” who continues to bring innovation and superior customer service to her constituency.

Bellapizzelle has created an emotional bond with customers – that which makes for an irresistible connection and indestructible brand.