Mano Bella Artisan Foods
Handmade offerings including dried pastas, biscotti and seasoning mixes.
Vendor Story
Madison & Raffaele Patrizi
Real Italian food is two things: it’s hand-crafted and it’s local.
“My husband, Raffaele, taught me that,” says Madison Patrizi.
The pair met in Italy while she was researching her undergraduate thesis on ecumenical architecture and he was beginning his culinary career.
“It began with tales of his Italian upbringing in Rome,” Madison recalls. “Over the years, he showed me how to make fresh pasta and more, slowly revealing this intimate connection that comes from creating hand-crafted artisanal foods. After a while, it became clear to me that we needed to share this living tradition with others, and I knew we would call it ‘Mano Bella’ — beautiful hand.”
Five years working in a family-owned brunch spot in Pasadena, Calif., honed Raffaele’s front-of-house management skills and style, as well as providing him opportunities to work his way up in the kitchen. When the couple moved East, he continued his culinary education for several years at Charlotte’s famed Mama Riccotta’s.
The pandemic dried up the restaurant business for a time, but not the Patrizis’ passion for sharing good food. Selling to family and friends out of a home kitchen turned into operating out of a commissary kitchen and staking a claim at the Davidson Farmer’s market in 2020.
Their educational ethos of sharing about food as well as sharing the food itself remains key: Community. Connection. Collaboration.
“It’s kind of like a school for everybody,” Raffaele says, in between hauling bins of delectables from his truck to market display tables.
Since becoming stalwarts at the Davidson Farmer’s Market, Mano Bella has taken off with brick-and-mortar locations in SouthPark and Uptown, employing some 35-40 people across an operation that also supplies restaurants and shops across the Southeast with their wholesale products.
“We still do everything from scratch,” says Madison.
Working together with fellow vendors at the market, for everything from local meat to local flowers, is one way they stay true to their mission of hand-crafted, locally-sourced Italian food.
“Hand-in-hand with local farmers and artisans, we hope that you find connection, with your food and with those you share it with,” says Madison.
