The o'pulia in portrait.

Italian flair at the Lattich.

Piero Albanese runs the o'pulia store in Lattich with a lot of passion. His family supports him energetically. In o'pulia you will find numerous Italian specialties. Very special are the olive oils from the own olive grove in Apulia.

Family business: Piero, his wife Ursi and his niece Mélanie are among those behind o'pulia.

Carrying on the tradition of the southern Italian family

Olive trees, sun rays, hills, the sea - all this can be found in Puglia near the olive grove of the Albanese family. Piero Albanese can be found in Puglia for several weeks from mid-October, when the olive harvest season begins. "As soon as the fruits change color, they are ready for harvesting," Piero explains. The harvested olives are processed directly into high-quality olive oil within a few hours of harvest. "A working day can easily last until midnight," says Piero. The olive harvest requires many hard-working helpers, including Piero's parents, neighbors, and cousins, all of whom live in Puglia - a true family affair.

"A working day can easily last until midnight".

Piero Albanese, Managing Director o'pulia

Olive oil, antipasti, selected wines, handmade pasta and customer gifts.

Piero, a trained typographer, decided to start a company four years ago. The company is called "maremonte". The name translates as "sea" and "mountain". It describes the location of the olive grove in Puglia, which lies between the hills of Puglia and the sea.

Out of curiosity, Piero and his niece Mélanie attended the information event on the interim use of Lattich and then decided rather spontaneously to open a store to sell the "maremonte" products. The o'pulia was born.

In addition to olive oil, they also sell handmade antipasti, pasta, balsamic vinegar, fine wines and Italian ceramic tableware at Lattich. "We know all the producers personally and visit them regularly in Puglia," says Piero. Their boxes, which are ideal as customer gifts and contain a lot of "Italianità", are also particularly popular.

Our series "Stories from the inner city

In the series "Geschichten aus der Innenstadt" (Stories from downtown), we regularly present a business from downtown St.Gallen. The team of o'pulia would like to have a portrait of the store YEOON.

A family business

Piero's wife Ursi has also been working in the store since this year, mainly taking care of confections and the store. Mélanie works as a graphic designer and is responsible for the design and packaging together with Piero. Mélanie's sister Lucia is also involved. She paints the pictures for the product labels. Together with Mélanie she published the cookbook "La cucina della nonna". It is a tribute to her "nonna" and her delicious Italian cuisine. Since the rush for the cookbook was so great, it is already out of print, but you can pre-order one if you are interested and surely look forward to the traditional Italian recipes soon.

Community in the lattice

The family feels very comfortable in Lattich. The businesses work together here and support each other. Last year, for example, the Albaneses were able to put together many customer gifts for a company in the Lattich, or they have already held joint events with their fellow tenants.