Paolo Aggio, 48, born and raised in Venice, Italy, bakes traditional Italian country-style bread in a stone warehouse in the middle of the serene and quiet town of Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, a town famous for its pottery.
Aggio and his Japanese wife set up their company, Panem, to bake bread at the warehouse, which was built in 1958 using the distinctive Oya stone quarried from nearby Utsunomiya. He commutes to this workplace from his home in the neighboring town of Motegi.
Aggio says he is intrigued by old, traditional cultures like the ones that remain in Europe. He views Italian bread — a replica of the bread baked before the Industrial Revolution — his stone warehouse and the old machines used to prepare dough as part of traditional European culture.