Panificio Adriatico

The people behind it

Behind the counter on Via Nicola de Giosa is the Concordia family, who founded the bakery in 1932 and have run it for three generations. Today the owner is Giuseppe Concordia, known to everyone as Beppe: the bakery's website says he chose to "take a step back into the past" to rediscover traditional raw materials, rather than simply repeating the gestures he inherited.

As early as 2019 Dissapore described him as the man who renewed a historic bakery with sourdough, Senatore Cappelli wheat and single-cultivar extra virgin olive oil. In 2021 Scatti di Gusto, listing the bakery among twelve addresses in Bari for focaccia barese, named him as the owner and summed up his approach: a culture of seasonality, research into ancient grains, organic farming and the study of nutritional processes. The research also has an academic side: the bakery works with the University of Bari's Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences and tutors students graduating in Food Science and Technology.

Sources: Panificio Adriatico — Chi siamo · Dissapore — 15 panifici con cucina da provare in Italia (4 marzo 2019) · Scatti di Gusto — Focaccia barese: i 12 migliori panifici di Bari (9 marzo 2021)

What they make

Panificio Adriatico's counter is that of a Bari bakery: bread, focaccia barese, taralli, breadsticks, friselle and toasted slices. The focaccia, also sold packaged in a format of about 600 grams, starts from a dough of soft wheat flour and twice-milled durum wheat semolina with sourdough starter and water; on top go extra virgin olive oil, fresh cherry tomatoes, black olives and oregano, and it is baked in a wood-fired oven. The website describes it as a focaccia with a crisp outer crust and a soft interior.

Scatti di Gusto, in its 2021 round-up on focaccia barese, also pointed to an organic version with cabbage, designed to limit the glycaemic response, shipped frozen in single portions to be reheated in the oven. Among the taralli, Dissapore mentioned the classic, wholemeal, spelt, aniseed and fennel versions, together with scroccarelle, several kinds of breadsticks and a turmeric loaf: a snacking repertoire built on the city's bread-making tradition.

Sources: Panificio Adriatico — Focaccia barese · Panificio Adriatico — sito ufficiale · Scatti di Gusto — Focaccia barese: i 12 migliori panifici di Bari (9 marzo 2021) · Dissapore — 15 panifici con cucina da provare in Italia (4 marzo 2019)

Ingredients and territory

The choice of raw materials is at the heart of the Concordia family's work. The bakery's website states that it uses only ancient-grain flours, organic ingredients and natural leavening, and names varieties such as einkorn, spelt, emmer, Russello wheat, Sicilian Timina, and South Tyrolean and German rye; the products are made with artisanal techniques, without artificial yeasts, additives, preservatives or colourings.

In a post on its own blog the bakery also mentions other ancient varieties such as Senatore Cappelli and Saragolla, and explains that these grains are usually stone-ground. In 2019 Dissapore added Abbondanza wheat and a home-produced Coratina olive oil used for the taralli, along with paprika, turmeric and pepper. For the focaccia barese the base remains the city's traditional one, soft wheat and twice-milled durum wheat semolina, with fresh cherry tomatoes, black olives, oregano and extra virgin olive oil.

Sources: Panificio Adriatico — Chi siamo · Panificio Adriatico — La riscoperta dei grani antichi · Dissapore — 15 panifici con cucina da provare in Italia (4 marzo 2019) · Panificio Adriatico — Focaccia barese

Recognition

The independent recognition comes from Gambero Rosso's Pane & Panettieri d'Italia guide. In the 2025 edition, presented in June 2024, Panificio Adriatico in Bari is among the Apulian bakeries awarded Three Loaves, the guide's top rating, together with Spacciagrani in Conversano, Il Toscano in Corato, Forno Sammarco in San Marco in Lamis and Lula in Trani, according to the lists published by Scatti di Gusto and greenMe.

It was not the first time: the Three Loaves had also come with the 2024 edition, presented in June 2023, and with the 2021 edition, when Scatti di Gusto counted the Bari bakery among the 43 best Italian bakeries awarded by the guide. The bakery itself notes on its website that its premises and products have been awarded by Gambero Rosso, a recognition that, in its words, rewards the research carried out over the years. In 2021 Scatti di Gusto also included it among the twelve bakeries in Bari recommended for focaccia barese.

Sources: Scatti di Gusto — Pane e Panettieri d'Italia 2025: i migliori per il Gambero Rosso (17 giugno 2024) · greenMe — I migliori panifici d'Italia secondo il Gambero Rosso, guida 2025 (19 giugno 2024) · greenMe — Pane & Panettieri d'Italia 2024: i migliori premiati da Gambero Rosso (18 giugno 2023) · Scatti di Gusto — Pane artigianale: i 43 migliori panifici italiani, guida Pane & Panettieri 2021 (17 luglio 2020) · Panificio Adriatico — Chi siamo · Scatti di Gusto — Focaccia barese: i 12 migliori panifici di Bari (9 marzo 2021)

Going there

Panificio Adriatico is at Via Nicola de Giosa 113, in the heart of central Bari, on the same street where the Concordia family started working in 1932. According to the contact page of its website it is open every day from 8 am to 2 pm and from 5 pm to 8 pm, Saturday afternoons included; the phone number is +39 080 524 7463. Opening hours may change, so it is worth checking the website before going.

Focaccia barese, according to the description given by Scatti di Gusto in 2021, should have a soft top layer, tomatoes resting on the surface rather than worked into the dough, and an even crispness on the base and along the edges: these are the criteria for looking at this bakery's version too. Anyone wanting to take some away will find, besides the packaged focaccia, handmade taralli and toasted slices, and the bakery's website also sells its baked goods online.

Sources: Panificio Adriatico — Contatti · Panificio Adriatico — Chi siamo · Scatti di Gusto — Focaccia barese: i 12 migliori panifici di Bari (9 marzo 2021) · Panificio Adriatico — sito ufficiale

Products and flavours

Focaccia barese

PAT · Fresh pasta, bread and pastry

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Taralli

PAT · Fresh pasta, bread and pastry

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Bari focaccia and panzerotti

Potato dough, cherry tomatoes and oregano; the fried half-moon filled with mozzarella: history, technique, local variants and how to taste them in Bari.

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Puglian taralli

Dough, two-stage cooking and aromas: understanding Puglian taralli beyond the aperitivo.

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Photo: Marco Leogrande / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain · Resized and converted to WebP.

The place

Bari

The old town as a first encounter with Puglia. Bari Vecchia between its two harbours, the Murat district, focaccia and orecchiette with turnip tops.

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Photo: Berthold Werner / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

The region

Puglia