About us

Our Family

In the heart of this area, the Modenese territory characterised by its climatic variety, the De Pietri family has its roots.Since 1890, the great-grandfather Celestino started producing the precious vinegar which over many years has became appreciated and renowned due to its high quality. In his restaurant, the official meeting point for the famous Mille Miglia Italian road race competition, many drivers and mechanics used to stop to sample the local products which they were destined to remember forever. For this reason, the production of Balsamic Vinegar started to become more and more accurate, whilst preserving its familiar traditional spirit.The De Pietri family then decided to establish a small Company whose name and trademark could resemble another historical symbol of Modena. The family decided to attribute the company’s name and logo to “La Bonissima”, a Noble Dame and benefactor of the city from the 13th Century, which is represented by an ancient statue placed at one corner of the Town Hall of Modena. That same love and profound respect for past traditions still reside in the fourth generation of the De Pietri family, permitting an excellent artisanal production which is characterised by the utmost attention to quality alongside an ever accurate selection of the best musts and grapes supplied solely from local crops. La Bonissima products are produced in complete guidance following the guidelines set out by the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.

La Bonissima

The company’s traditions, environment and philosophies are the basis behind the idea of ​​the trademark: "LA BONISSIMA". For Modena's people, "LA BONISSIMA" is in fact a name that signifies the maximum expression of that which comes from Modena in the most strict sense of the term. "LA BONISSIMA" is a small statue located in the corner of the building that houses the Modena City Commune, in front of the pizza on which the Ancient Roman Duomo sits.

La Bonissima, as it is known by Modena's people seems to represent a lady who, according to some, held a balance as a symbol of the exactness of weights, measurements and the good quality of goods. However others say that, in a period of great famine which struck the city of Modena, a noblewoman guaranteed the survival of the poor and impoverished by donating grain and supplies in large quantities. As such, this statue was erected in the 13th century as a memorial to the noble deed and since then has become one of the city’s most loved symbols.

The company

ACETAIA LA BONISSIMA is testimony of the De Pietri ’s family passion, which they have cultivated for the production, of "Balsamic" since the beginning of the last century. At the start of the 1900’s, the grandfather Celestino, used to run, at the gates of Modena on Via Emilia, one of the city’s oldest trattoria, the “Casa Rigata”, official refreshment point of the Mille Miglia car race.Celestino first started to make Balsamic Vinegar in the barrels that head wine sold to travelers.Many others barrels gradually joined the originals, and with the aid of his son Egidio, Celestino started to produce "Balsamic" on considerable scale.Today the only relics from the old trattoria are the "Balsamic" barrels, which have been moved for safekeeping to the attic of an old house in the countryside, at the foot of the Modena hills. This area is the undisputed home of the vines which produce trebbiano grapes, used for centuries to make the boiled must which is then aged in costly wooden barrels to produce a "Balsamic".Since those days, at the end of the grape harvest this ritual has been performed every year. Franco, Donatella with his sons Francesco and Alessandro, the latest generation of the family, who breathes in the unmistakable fragrance released by the large containers in which the freshly pressed grape juice is cooked over a low heat.