OUR VALUES: LOVE FOR NATURE
Since childhood, Giombattista has been passionate about nature, plants and all things related to this world. Following his passion for years, through a constant and accurate observation, he has developed a relationship with plants that allows him to interpret their “language”. Plants are living beings and, if carefully listened to, they are able to communicate with us.
Interpreting their language is fundamental to monitor their health state. Understanding if and when the plant has an issue and taking the appropriate action at the right time is not easy, but it’s a skill that is acquired only after a long experience, which testes the operator’s intelligence and critical ability. This asset of experience and knowledge, is being gradually transmitted to us, Clizia and Vincenzo, the fourth generation, engaged with the same devotion and care, looking to future innovations without losing sight of our roots.
This mix of intelligence and experience, as well as the intuition to welcome the innovations on the market, are the base of a production of unrivalled quality, both in terms of taste of the final product and genuineness. This is the reason why, for many years, the farm has been a leader within the Haute Cuisine in Italy. The choice of Integrated Farming, the manual picking and packaging, the tomato preserve’s artisanal production, the guarantee of “quality without compromise” and the direct relationship with the producer, are the main reasons why many prestigious chefs have appointed “La Perla del Sud” as their trusted supplier.
OUR STORY
Telling the story of La Perla del Sud implies telling the story of its territory and of our own family, because we believe that, if you want to truly know a product, you need to know the context to which it belongs.
In the ‘30s and ‘40s of the past century, our great grandparents were growing tomatoes and zucchini in open air. During those years, protected crops like the ones we have today did not exist, but crops were protected by long canes called “cannizzate”, to preserve the plants in between rows from wind and frost. They were fences made by swamp reeds tied up by strong lianas, which gave shelter to the plants on the North side, while leaving them exposed to the South. When it was really cold, they were bent sideways to shield the plants.
In between the ‘50s and ‘60s, grandad Vincenzo installed the first greenhouses, adding the eggplant species.
At the end of the ‘80s the management of the farm goes on to Giombattista, the current owner, who is among the first farmers in Italy to experiment the small-fruit type of tomato: the “Cherry”. An absolute innovation against the trend of the species grown until then with medium-big sized fruits. On the wake of such innovations is then implemented the “Baby Plum” tomato variety and some other eggplants: eight are the products currently being produced.
