Nicolas FONTANA
Les ruchers d'Orezza
PDO honey
Visits : Open between May and October by appointment
Regions : Casinca - Castagniccia - Costa Verde
Categories : Honey
Agricultural sectors : Corsican honey
Lieu-dit Frigiatella - RD 506
20229 Piazzole
04 95 35 85 23 | 06 78 13 63 26
Vocations often skip a generation, and Nicolas Fontana, a young beekeeper from Piazzole, is a perfect example of this.
His grandfather before him had set up his first beehives beneath the thousand- year-old chestnuts in Castagniccia. Nicolas, who lived in Paris at the time, took advantage of every school holiday to come and watch his grandfather harvest the precious nectar. Life carried on and for ten years, Nicolas made the daily commute to a factory outside Paris. However, this lifestyle didn’t suit him. “When I worked there, I really felt as though I was just a number. I hadn’t found my role,” he says, without regret.
When his grandfather retired, taking over the family business seemed an obvious choice to Nicolas and his sister. After they had both undergone training in Corsica, they pursued separate activities, which both took off. Today, Nicolas has taken over, developed and modernised his grandfather’s hive.
While his complete change of lifestyle has occurred quickly, Nicolas is safe in the knowledge that he has finally found his vocation!