Focacceria Fiore

Focacceria Fiore has operated from Strada Vittorio Emanuele III in Bari's old quarter, Apulia, producing what is widely recognised as the city's most faithful version of focaccia barese. The product is specific and non-negotiable in its form: a thick-based, chewy dough baked in a round iron pan, topped with ripe whole cherry tomatoes pressed into the surface, Cerignola olives, and a generous quantity of Apulian extra-virgin olive oil applied at both mixing and after baking. No cheese, no herbs beyond oregano in some versions, no variation.

Focaccia barese is Bari's most immediate food identity — more defining than the orecchiette that also bears the city's name, because orecchiette requires a kitchen and a cook while focaccia emerges from street-level bakeries and focaccerie accessible to anyone walking through the old town at any hour. Focacceria Fiore bakes through the morning and keeps warm trays available through the afternoon, with a final push before the early evening. A slice costs €2.50; a whole round baked fresh to order runs €8. Both are legitimate ways to eat it.

Panzerotti fritti represent the second major product: small half-moon pastry pockets fried in olive oil, filled with tomato and mozzarella, consumed immediately from the paper bag in which they are handed across the counter. These are related to but distinct from Neapolitan calzone — smaller, crispier, the fry lighter and quicker. The street-food culture that surrounds both products is essential to the Bari Vecchia experience: eating while walking through the medieval lanes, without seating, without service, without ceremony.

The shop operates Monday through Saturday with shorter Sunday hours. No reservation is possible or necessary. The correct approach is to arrive, choose a slice or whole focaccia, take the panzerotto if it is freshly fried, and eat in the lane outside.