On the occasion of the celebrations for 100 years of activity in Bari, Birra Peroni has opened the doors of the factory in via Bitritto. It is useless to try to explain to the citizens of the capital that in reality the original brewery was founded in Vigevano in 1846, that its current headquarters are in Rome and that the brand, after being sold in 2003 to the English of SABmiller, in recent years has even become the property of the Japanese of Asahi. For a Bari resident, Peroni will always be "their" beer. After all, just go to any bar in the city: if you ask for "a beer" you will invariably be served a 33 cl Peroni. There is no need to specify.
Present in Italy with three production plants in Bari, Rome and Padua, plus a malt house (the Saplo of Pomezia), the company produces more than seven million hectolitres every year, of which over two million are exported to 75 countries worldwide. In the capital of Puglia, production is around two million hectolitres per year with exports of Peroni Nastro Azzurro beers to the United States, Australia and Asia. More than a drink, Peroni beer is a true icon for the city.
The current factory (until 1963 the headquarters were in via Capurso, now via Amendola) extends over 185 thousand square meters, has three production lines and employs approximately 200 people. The site has a strategic value for the Asahi Group, which has invested over 40 million euros in the last few years and has another 10 million in the pipeline for the next three years. The goal is to continue to innovate the plant and consequently improve its production capacity and environmental performance, a central theme in the brand's strategy.
Examples of this include the advanced bottling line, inaugurated in 2019, which allows the production of 50.000 bottles per hour (also in the returnable empty format) or the innovative solar thermal field, of more than 600 square meters, which thanks to a patented technology captures solar radiation and transforms it into thermal energy, thus contributing to decarbonization. Also noteworthy are the excellent performances in terms of water resource management: the interventions carried out at the plant in via Bitritto have in fact allowed 2023 hectoliters of water to be reached for every hectoliter of beer produced in 2,7, a result that makes the plant the most virtuous of the three Birra Peroni sites in Italy and one of the best in the entire Asahi Group.
This anniversary, therefore, marks only one stage in a long journey studded with shared successes and continuous growth that have allowed the company not only to become an excellence in the sector but also (and above all) an integral part of the Bari community.
