The first reference to these sweets is in a Prato manuscript of the eighteenth century, but only in 1858 Antonio Mattei, opening the still active biscuit factory having the same name, improved the recipe creating the delicious almond biscuit. The Biscuit was immediately appreciated by the citizens of Prato and considered one of the city’s heritage as "the Mattonella biscuit” because of the nickname given to Mattei. The fortunes of this typical Prato sweet is due to the undoubted skills of Antonio Mattei, who besides being an expert baker, also had a good business intuition. Thanks to his initiative this biscuit was known and appreciated internationally (Awards in London in 1862 and Paris in 1867). The original recipe, secret, traditional and "stainless", (of which the Mattei biscuit factory is the holder) has remained unchanged for 155 years. The unchanged passion for homemade products, the attention in the choice of ingredients, the simplicity and the attention in making them (from the various stages of production to the packaging in the blue bag, clear tribute to the Savoy Blue for the unification of Italy), make it a unique and recognizable product. Intellectuals (Herman Hesse), designers, artists (including Anna Magnani that when she was in Florence came specifically to Prato to buy them), travelers... there are many admirers of this Cookie. This gave rise to other production and business activities, in addition to the old biscuit factory. In fact there are now several bakers and pastry chefs who daily bring out this wonderful sweet for the pleasure of young and old. An ancient advise says to briefly dunk the cookies, one by one, before taking them to the mouth, in the glass of vin santo which is an indispensable accompaniment of this famous Prato sweet.