Sibari rice - Masseria Fornara

The largest of Magna Graecia's colonies was Sybaris. On the shores of the Ionian Sea stood Sybaris which reached its maximum splendor between 700 and 450 BC dedicated to trade and agriculture. Studies have shown that rice was imported by Alexander the Great first in Sicily and then in Calabria to then arrive in the Po Valley. The marshy conformation of the land has guaranteed the adaptation of this cereal in the Sybarite area. Rice returned to being cultivated in the Sibari area in the second half of the 1800s and was then abandoned again due to high labor costs and lack of adequate mechanization.
In the early 60s, rice reappeared in the Piana di Sibari thanks to the initiative of some entrepreneurs, becoming a point of reference and primary cultivation for all those lands considered not of first quality, given their brackish origin. Due to the "unusual" area in which it is produced and the unique characteristics of the product, the rice of the Piana di Sibari is known and appreciated throughout Italy and Europe.