We arrive at the Masseria Capella, in the countryside of Martina Franca and Massafra, in the afternoon and around the stables during the milking of three hundred cows accompanies us Vincenzo Trisolini, grandson of who bought the farm and kicked off to the breeding. Vincenzo tells of his grandfather, his participation in the Second World War and then returned to his purchase of the old farmhouse. He conquests us with his smile and by recalling the stories that his grandfather narrated him: the war, the prison in Albania, the back home, the start a life in a poor country and consumed by the conflict.
Then, proud, shows us what his father Giovanni built following up the company over the years not only grows, but is converted into a cooperative that initially brings together as many as 22 members. Since 1973, when he graduated thinking to “escape” and emancipate going to work Italsider, and then decided to continue the business that his father started, since to 1991, when he forms the cooperative Valcoop. Giovanni agrees to grow the company by providing the most modern systems to raise healthy animals and in complete comfort. Now the members of the cooperative are only four but not has failed the initial commitment, to produce quality cheeses. But before the visit to the dairy housed in a group of trulli, and the obligatory tasting, Vincenzo takes us to get acquainted with the three hundred cows of the brown breed, Freisan, spotted black and red spotted that produce a large proportion of the milk needed for cheese: we do not enter directly into the stable but we go on some sort of catwalk closed with glass overlooking the large space of the milking, the alcove in which a bull keeps apart with his partner, the relaxation area where cows, calves and heifers eating, resting and massage.
Animal welfare is an obsession of Vincenzo, a graduate in Food Security at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Bari. He shows us the computer data of each cow that, through a kind of pedometer, are recorded and monitored: what moves, how much eats, how much rest. Then we visit the cheese factory where the father Giovanni delights us with caciocavallo and cheese of various seasoning combined with vincotto homemade. And “zero meter” are also bagels and bread prepared in the adjacent bakery by Mrs. Trisolini who every morning bakes bread and other delicious baked goods and is also the maker of organic jams and with local fruits that enrich the breakfast in the morning. That we appreciate after resting in the room reserved for us on the farm. The room, on two levels, is reached by a short flight of steps but also with a modern elevator that also allows the disabled to gain access. A courtesy for guests appreciated by Arturo, who given his advanced age, begins to want to avoid too long and steep stairs! Vincenzo tells us that the enormous rooms have been created in what was the barn of the farm, housed in the interior and accessible only from the outside with fake stairs on which climbed one by one the men with sacks on their shoulders. This avoided that one of the most precious good of the time could be stolen by robbers who did not fail to carry out their raids in isolated farms in these countrysides.
Today these large spaces have been converted into spacious suites, comfortable with bathroom and kitchenette, overlooking the large courtyard bordered by white trulli and ancient chapel that gives the name to the farm, the countryside and the woods where cows and horses graze. And provide a complete rest amidst the scents of nature and the sounds, in the distance, of the cowbells dangling around the necks of animals of the grange, an authentic Puglia farm.
Valcoop Soc. Copp. Agricola r.l.
Via per Massafra – Zona E 303, Martina Franca – Taranto
Info: +39 080 4400652 – info@valcoop.it
Masseria Cappella
Via per Massafra – Zona E 303, Marina Franca – Taranto
Info: +39 339 488 9714
www.masseriacappella.com – masseriacappella@gmail.com
