People - Bambarone La Masseria

The passionate host

Pierfrancesco Antonino

Pierfrancesco has his eye on everything and is a host from the bottom of his heart. He not only sees the big picture, but also has a special eye for the small details. Having learnt his business from the bottom up, he has developed a special sense for the things that are important to guests, often taking care of them before he is even asked.

He has already been involved in the Bambarone La Masseria project as a project manager and knows not only every detail, but also the rich history of the Masseria.

The agricultural expert

Giovanni Saracino

Thanks to Giovanni, Bambarone La Masseria is still a bit like a masseria. He is the farmer who takes care of the land. Not only the olive harvest, but also the herb garden, the fruit and citrus trees and the gardens around the property. If one of the old dry stone walls needs repairing or the centuries-old olive trees need pruning, he knows what to do. And if a helping hand is needed elsewhere in the Masseria, he is always on hand.

The olive tree whisperer

Rita Tamborrino

Rita is our olive tree whisperer, tending to the centuries-old olive trees of our Masseria with all her expertise and dedication. Following strict organic guidelines, she nurtures and cares for her charges and oversees the entire process from harvesting to pressing. And the result is sensational. The finest olive oil, where you can taste the love and traditional processing down to the last drop.

And because this is what we value most, our Bambarone Olio D’Oliva is labelled “For friends and family”. If you share the same values, we would love to share our green gold with you. Either in the exclusive 1.5 liter magnum bottle or in the handy 0.5 liter bottle. Just send us an email.

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The fruit and vegetable specialists

L’angolo della frutta

Puglia is the fruit and vegetable garden of Europe. Here, under the southern sun, there are ideal conditions for fruits and vegetables to develop their full flavor potential. They are allowed to ripen to perfection before being carefully harvested.

Just two kilometers away, L’Angolo Della Frutta, an old-established fruit and vegetable merchant, selects the best seasonal products from local farms for Bambarone La Masseria. They know the farmers personally and know which fruits and vegetables are best grown where.

The bakers

Furleo Panificio Antiche Specialità

Furleo Panificio Antiche Specialità is a charming family business run by Tommaso and Agata in Fasano. Since 1968, their bakery has been producing a wide range of fragrant breads, lovingly made by hand using traditional family recipes and their own sourdough. As well as the typical Pugliese taralli or focaccia, for example with onions and olives. Or the crumbly almond biscuits called “biscotti morbidi alle mandorle”, or the “strudel di cioccolata” filled with chocolate, to name just a few of the countless specialties.

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The butcher

Macelleria Fortunato

Macelleria Fortunato is a family business located in Fasano, as you would expect. Also because it only processes meat from small farms that almost invariably keep their animals outdoors and are no more than ten kilometers away. That’s how Net Zero works. In addition to the typical Italian cuts, the Semeraro family produces all of their “salumi” themselves, to a unique quality.

These include such wonderful specialties as capocollo, salami, salted pancetta or steccata pancetta, in which the bacon is folded and pressed between chestnut or birch slats to prevent air from entering during the curing process, which can take up to three months. Or a very special salami, the so-called Capocollo salami, made with 100% raw ham and cooked Cotechino ham, which is only available here.

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The fishermen

Pescheria Adriatica

The Pescheria Adriatica in Savelletri is also a family business to our taste. Now in its third generation, it is run with dedication by the two brothers Antonio and Francesco. Eighty percent of the fish eaten in the area is freshly caught by the fishermen of Savelletri, such as swordfish, bream, squid, lobster or the popular “ricci” (sea urchins) and the legendary red shrimp, both of which are best eaten raw, as is customary here.

Nothing is more local and fresher, and anything else would be unthinkable for Apulian families and even more so for the chefs of the many restaurants and osterias. Of course, we are also only interested in what the fishermen catch every day and nothing else could be on our table.

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The diary and cheese factory

Masseria Lamapecora

Today, the masserie are above all living farms. Masseria Lamapecora, a dairy and cheese factory, is one of the most beautiful and deservedly successful, turning the fresh milk of its own cows into the best Apulian specialties such as caciocavallo, fresh and smoked scamorza, stracchinato, cacioricotta and, of course, the classic Apulian mozzarella.

The milk cycle ends after only 200 meters in the dairy laboratory, where the milk is processed directly. This natural zero-kilometer production, practiced for generations, is good for the animals, good for us as consumers, and good for the environment. And the difference you can taste.

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Die Käserei

Masseria Lamapecora

Auch heute noch sind die Masserien vor allem lebendige landwirtschaftliche Betriebe. Eine besonders schöne und zu Recht erfolgreiche ist die Masseria Lamapecora, eine Molkerei und Käserei, die täglich die frische Milch der eigenen Kühe zu den besten apulischen Spezialitäten wie Caciocavallo, frischem und geräuchertem Scamorza, Stracchinato, Cacioriccota und selbstverständlich dem apulischen Klassiker Mozzarella verarbeitet. So endet der Milchkreislauf hier bereits nach 200 Metern im Labor der Käserei, wo die Milch direkt weiterverarbeitet wird. Diese natürliche, seit Generationen gelebte Null-Kilometer-Produktion ist gut für die Tiere, für uns als Konsumenten und für die Umwelt sowieso. Und das schmeckt man.

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The coffee roastery

Torrefazione Il Manovale

Il Manovale, unlike many of our partners, is not a traditional company with a long history, but a very modern artisanal micro-roaster founded by a group of coffee-loving professionals to bring a handmade, fresh and traceable coffee to homes and bars.

In this sense, it is a project that has a lot to do with tradition. With the great Italian coffee culture, which was in danger of disappearing in the land of small coffee at the bar. The founders had long observed how the large international industrial roasters were flooding bar after bar with their inferior mass-produced coffee. The founders wanted to counter this with something substantial that really deserved the name Caffé. We swear by the high-quality blends and single-origin coffees of Il Manovale, and we know since then what the little black coffee should really taste like.

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The friend of the family

Vito Giannella

Vito Giannella is a committed European and worked for many years as an advisor to the Italian government in Brussels. It was during one of his many international projects that Vito and Stefan got to know and appreciate each other. Vito, a proud Barese through and through, who learned to love his homeland even more in faraway Belgium, shared with Henriette and Stefan the same passion for Puglia from the very beginning. That unites.

The family friend, who later became a business partner in various activities such as the Bambarone Art Foundation or the Bambarone Olio D’Oliva project, was instrumental in the realisation. He contributed his knowledge of the country and its people, supported the project with his network and translated into valuable advice all that was written between the lines in conversations with craftsmen and suppliers, which will probably always remain a big secret for Tedeschi like Henriette and Stefan. In short, without Vito there would be no Bambarone La Masseria today.

The initiators

La Famiglia Schneider

Henriette and Stefan Schneider have traveled the world, seen a lot and finally landed with their hearts in Italy. In Puglia, to be precise. Here, the great lovers of the Italian way of life have found everything they didn’t even know they were looking for. Friendly, vibrant people, great cuisine using the freshest and most aromatic ingredients, great history around every corner, crystal clear turquoise waters, and seaside villages and towns that look exactly like you imagine Italy to be. It was love at first sight.

This is the place to be. As often as possible. With family and friends. And no sooner was the thought expressed than the search began for a suitable property that could be awakened from its slumber and filled with new life.

Bambarone La Masseria was such a beauty that the ivy had long since had a firm grip on it, and if one could disregard a few late building sins and rusty bedsteads left behind, the austere beauty of the ensemble was unmistakable. At least for Henriette and Stefan. The fact that Henriette is a sensitive and experienced architect, and Stefan is an investor and entrepreneur with an eye for untapped potential, was a more than happy combination for the project. The result is a unique hideaway that combines a love of detail, an unwavering commitment to quality, and a deep respect for the environment and the turbulent history of the masseria into an inseparable unit of simple, unadulterated beauty.