Food & drink · Bari

Panificio Santa Rita — Focaccia Barese

Focaccia barese is categorically different from its Ligurian cousin — thicker, doughier, drenched in local olive oil and topped with ripe cherry tomatoes and olives — and Panificio Santa Rita on Via Calefati is widely regarded as the finest version in the city.

What Makes It Special

The dough is made with a proportion of boiled potato, which gives it an almost pillowy interior while the base crisps to a cracker-like crunch in the wood-fired oven. The olive oil — always Puglian, always generous — pools in the dimples pressed by the baker's fingers before baking.

Cherry tomatoes are pressed cut-side down into the raw dough so their juice caramelises as the bread bakes, leaving jammy, sweet-savoury pockets throughout. A scattering of Cerignola olives and coarse sea salt completes the picture.

How to Order

Focaccia is sold by weight — ask for 'un etto' (100 g) to start, which costs around €1.20 and is a generous wedge. Most locals eat it standing at the counter wrapped in paper, still warm.

The bakery also sells taralli (ring-shaped savoury biscuits flavoured with fennel seeds or black pepper) and cartellate (honey-soaked pastry spirals) at Christmas — both essential Puglian snacks to take home.

Other Spots Worth Knowing

Panificio Fiore on Strada Palazzo dell'Intendenza in Bari Vecchia is the old-town alternative and equally beloved — queues form before 8 am on weekends.

For a sit-down focaccia experience, Pizzeria Mammà on Via Niccolò Piccinni serves a superlative focaccia barese alongside wood-fired pizzas in a cheerful, no-frills room that fills up fast at lunch.

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