In the heart of Puglia, surrounded by rolling wheat fields and stone villages, lies the town of Altamura — home to one of Italy’s most celebrated culinary treasures: Pane di Altamura. This is not just bread; it’s a story of land, tradition, and pride baked into every golden loaf.
The story of Altamura bread goes back more than 2,000 years. Even the Roman poet Horace, traveling through southern Italy, praised it as “the best bread in the world — so good that the wise traveler brings it with him for the journey.”
Since then, little has changed. The recipe still honors the land and its grain. Altamura sits in the Murgia Plateau, a fertile area where hard durum wheat grows under the southern sun and steady winds from the Adriatic. The local varieties — Senatore Cappelli, Appulo, Duilio, and Simeto — are milled into a coarse, golden semolina flour that gives the bread its signature color and texture.
Unlike typical Italian breads made with soft wheat, Pane di Altamura is crafted entirely from durum wheat semolina. This makes it sturdier, with a thick crust that stays crisp for days and a tender, slightly yellow crumb with a rich aroma of grain and wood-fired baking.
Only natural yeast (sourdough starter), sea salt, and water from the local aquifer are used. The dough is slowly fermented and then baked in traditional wood-fired ovens made of volcanic stone — some of which have been in operation for generations.
In 2003, Pane di Altamura became the first bread in Europe to earn PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status. That means only bread made in Altamura and neighboring towns using traditional methods and local ingredients can bear the name.
Historically, every family would knead their dough at home and mark it with a personal stamp before bringing it to the communal oven. The baker would know exactly whose loaf was whose. The large domed loaves — called u skuanète or accavallato — were designed to last a week, their thick crust preserving the freshness of the crumb for farmers working long days in the fields.
Today, visiting a historic bakery in Altamura is like stepping back in time. The ovens glow with the same heat that baked loaves in the 19th century; the scent of toasty semolina fills the air. When you tear open a loaf, you taste history itself — simple ingredients transformed through patience, craft, and passion.