Sicilian black bee honey Claudio Meli

Honey from “Sicilian Black Bee”, genuine and artisanal, not subjected to any treatment.

The Sicilian Black Bee is the native Sicilian bee.

With smaller wings than its cousins, with black tergiti (the rings that create its abdomen) and yellowish dorsal hair, it is an infallible bee, workaholic, hardworking, faithful, resistant to many diseases and parasites (such as Varroa Destructor) and acclimatize like no other. It is the endemic bee of Sicily. Closely related to some subspecies of North Africa, Sicily has found its Eden, the right microclimate, its home. Very docile if bred in genetic purity.

It was seriously at risk of extinction in the decade between the 70s and 80s due to the transition from an ancient beekeeping (performed with the aid of ferrules of ferula wood; a more natural beekeeping) to a modern one. , rational (characterized by the advent of the hives we know today) and by the massive importation of ligustica bees in Sicily. Fortunately, today the Black Bee lives happy and pampered on our island. Credit for all this goes to Professor Pietro Genduso (1922 – 1999), who for many years has been interested in the protection and study of the Sicilian bee. The Sicilian entomologist managed to conserve the species, identifying the island of Ustica as a safe site in which to isolate it to protect it from hybridization with other subspecies. Sure, from the beginning, that the black one could repopulate all of Sicily, today Claudio Meli is one of its custodians!