SARAFINO RICE

Masseria Fornara is a farm that has been linked to the Perciaccante family since the mid-1800s, whose founder Pietro started the business in the Piana di Sibari, the largest plain in Calabria.

Over the years the farm has specialized in the cultivation of citrus fruits and peaches but above all rice.

Although it had been abandoned during the 1960s due to the high costs of labor and the lack of suitable mechanization, rice cultivation was resumed in 1984 by Pietro, a descendant of the founder of Masseria Fornara with the same name.

After some initial years of growing seed rice, particularly appreciated by seed growers in the north, and then stack rice, since 2006 the company has dedicated itself to the processing and marketing of its own product: Masseria Fornara Rice.

In Italian lowland areas such as the plains of Sibari, a natural phenomena called the Occhi di Mare occurs. The formation of sinkholes from eroding rock under the earth’s surface, plays an incredible part in the production of rice. These small holes fill up with sea water and it is the combination of this with the mountain spring water used to flood the fields during the sowing that creates a tremendously fertile soil for the rice to grow in.