Caseificio Artigiana

The people behind it

Caseificio Artigiana was founded in 2001 in Putignano on the initiative of Francesco D’Ambruoso and Maria Amodio, as the article republished in the press section of the company website recounts. The “About us” page traces the beginning: a disused 250-square-metre workshop in the centre of the town and five people working the milk. In 2008 production moved to a new 1,200-square-metre plant in Putignano's industrial area and began to serve the national and export markets as well; by 2012 the company had 50 people, and by 2022 plants and facilities covering 5,000 square metres and a staff of 120.

The family remains at the heart of the story. On 27 October 2019, in Verona, it was Francesco D’Ambruoso and his wife Maria who collected the two first-prize statuettes at the Italian Cheese Awards, the dairy writes. Grazia D’Ambruoso, the company's head of marketing, introduced the Antica Ricetta range, born from an idea of the founders, with these words: “With Antica Ricetta we have not invented anything new. We have simply given voice, in a conscious and structured way, to the authenticity, care and passion that have always defined who we are and how we produce.” Alongside the family, the website gives credit to its master cheesemakers for the awards collected over the years, and sums up its approach in one sentence: “Artigiana is what it is thanks to its people.”

Sources: Artigiana porta i suoi formaggi nel cuore di Putignano – Caseificio Artigiana · Caseificio Artigiana — Chi siamo · Sempre vincitori all'Italian Cheese Awards 2019 — Caseificio Artigiana · Formaggi artigianali pugliesi: la linea Antica Ricetta | Caseificio Artigiana

What they make

The range runs to 77 products in six families: burrata and stracciatella, mozzarellas, scamorze, fresh cheeses and ricottas, aged and cave-ripened cheeses, goat's and sheep's milk cheeses. Burrata is the dairy's best-known cheese: a thin casing of mozzarella enclosing a filling of stretched-curd shreds and fresh cream, made by hand by the cheesemakers in the Puglian tradition, with a blend of creams to which the dairy credits its smoothness. There is also a smoked version, and the website says it is available frozen as well.

Among the fresh cheeses is Crema di Rugiada, made by surfacing the cream without rennet, adding only a blend of salts to fresh Puglian milk: it has won twice at the Italian Cheese Awards. The aged cheeses include Caciocavallo Silano PDO, cave-ripened caciocavalli, Occhio di Puglia and Capasone di grotta. In 2025 the dairy presented the Antica Ricetta range at Tuttofood in Milan, inspired by techniques learned in the historic dairies of the Alta Murgia and the Valle d'Itria: Puglian cow's milk, every step followed by hand by experienced cheesemakers, and ripening in controlled rooms or in karst caves, as with the extra-aged caciocavallo and Occhio di Puglia. Artigiana's cheeses are sold in selected supermarkets, delicatessens and restaurants, in Italy and abroad.

Sources: Caseificio Artigiana — Prodotti · Caseificio Artigiana — Burrata · Caseificio Artigiana — Crema di Rugiada · Caseificio Artigiana — Chi siamo · Formaggi artigianali pugliesi: la linea Antica Ricetta | Caseificio Artigiana · Italian Cheese Awards 2017 — archivio ufficiale · Italian Cheese Awards 2019 — archivio ufficiale

Ingredients and territory

The milk comes from selected farms in the Murgia around Bari, within 30 kilometres of Putignano, and is tested chemically and microbiologically before it is processed. The production page describes each step. The milk coagulates with rennet once it reaches the right acidity; the curd is broken into grains, separated from the whey, gathered and left to rest. For stretched-curd cheeses the curd is then worked in boiling water until it becomes fibrous and elastic, and the cheesemakers braid it, knot it and cut it. Fresh cheeses go straight to packing; those meant for ageing go into rooms where humidity and temperature are adjusted to see them through ripening.

For the Antica Ricetta range the dairy states that it uses only Puglian cow's milk, collected every day with its own tankers from farms within 50 kilometres and processed a few hours after milking.

Then there is goat's milk. In 2015, a short distance from the centre of Putignano, the dairy set up the Il Carro farm, devoted to raising goats and turning their milk into cheeses and fresh dairy. Beneath the farm a natural cave opens in the karst rock, and this is where cheeses are ripened: a tradition handed down by Puglian farmers, the dairy writes, in which the moisture of the stone and noble moulds give the cheeses their bold flavour.

Sources: Caseificio Artigiana — Come li facciamo · Formaggi artigianali pugliesi: la linea Antica Ricetta | Caseificio Artigiana · Caseificio Artigiana — Chi siamo

Recognition

The Italian Cheese Awards, the competition for the best Italian cheeses organised by Guru del Gusto and later by Guru Comunicazione, have rewarded Caseificio Artigiana in five editions. In 2017, at the final evening in Bergamo's upper town, the dairy won two categories: very fresh cheese with Crema di Rugiada and aged stretched-curd cheese with Caciocavallo Capasone. In 2018, at the FICO Eataly World conference centre in Bologna, first prize in the stretched-curd category went to its Burrata. In 2019, in Verona, the double was repeated with the Burrata and Crema di Rugiada. The Burrata won the stretched-curd category again in the 2023 and 2024 editions, both held at the Mole Vanvitelliana in Ancona: four category wins for the same cheese, according to the competition's official archives.

The dairy's website also recalls where this run of awards began: in 2010 its burrata took first place at the Trofeo San Lucio, the first quality award the company received.

Artigiana is also one of the member dairies of the Burrata di Andria PGI consortium, in the list published by the protection consortium: burrata made to the product specification is identified by the PGI mark on the label.

Sources: Italian Cheese Awards 2017 — archivio ufficiale · Italian Cheese Awards 2018 — archivio ufficiale · Italian Cheese Awards 2019 — archivio ufficiale · Italian Cheese Awards 2023 — archivio ufficiale · Italian Cheese Awards 2024 — archivio ufficiale · Caseificio Artigiana — Chi siamo · Consorzio della Burrata di Andria IGP — I consorziati

Going there

The dairy is a production plant in Putignano's industrial area, at Via Cavalieri del Lavoro 88-90. For information about the products and the company, call +39 080 4058380 or write through the form on the contact page; the website's Store Locator shows where to buy the cheeses, and the Antica Ricetta range is also offered by delicatessens and restaurants.

Putignano lies between the Murgia around Bari, where the milk comes from, and the Valle d'Itria, where the dairy places the techniques that inspired Antica Ricetta: anyone travelling between Alberobello, Castellana Grotte and Monopoli passes within a few kilometres of the town. A good way to get to know Artigiana is to start by comparing its two award-winning fresh cheeses, the burrata and Crema di Rugiada, and then move on to a cave-ripened caciocavallo, to taste the difference between a cheese meant to be eaten straight away and one that has matured in the karst rock. The dairy suggests enjoying burrata on its own or on a bruschetta with cherry tomatoes and basil oil, one of the recipes published on its website alongside those for Crema di Rugiada, such as penne with crema di rugiada.

Sources: Contatti | Caseificio Artigiana · Artigiana | Caseificio Pugliese d'eccellenza a Putignano · Caseificio Artigiana — Come li facciamo · Formaggi artigianali pugliesi: la linea Antica Ricetta | Caseificio Artigiana · Caseificio Artigiana — Burrata · Caseificio Artigiana — Crema di Rugiada

Products and flavours

Burrata di Andria

PGI · PAT · Cheeses

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Caciocavallo Silano

PDO · Cheeses

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Puglian dairy and cheese

From burrata’s centre to Murgia cheeses: understanding textures, processes and places.

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Photo: Popo le Chien / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

Burrata di Andria PGI

What burrata is, how it is made, the story told in Andria, its PGI protection, Castel del Monte and how to enjoy it fresh.

Read the guide →

Photo: FM433 / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

The place

Putignano

Putignano: papier-mâché and town memory. Europe’s oldest carnival runs from 26 December to Lent with papier-mâché floats, while farinella recalls rural cooking.

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Photo: Sailko / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

The region

Puglia