The first integrated apiary where you can sleep in the company of a million bees in complete safety.

Wonder Bee&Bee is the brainchild of Rocco Filomeno, a beekeeper from Grottole. The apiary was conceived by designers Davide Tagliabue and Carlo Roccafiorita with Rocco’s support. The executive design was developed by Davide Tagliabue, while the self-construction work was done by Davide and Mariella Gentile with the help of, Lorenzo Lombardi, Luca Gabrieli, Andrea Paoletti, Rocco Pisilli, Nicola Viola and 15 other volunteers from the local community.

It required 3.5 cubic meters of fir and birch wood, 3,000 screws, took 35 days to build and cost just over 15,000 euros raised through a crowdfunding campaign supported by Funder 35.

The micro-architecture is surrounded by 9 hives, each inhabited by a family of bees, connected to the room via small grates that allow guests to listen to the sounds and appreciate the unique aroma produced by the honey and resin. From inside the house also it is possible to see an observation honeycomb inside which the bees are naturally building their habitat.

This wooden mini-home, positioned inside an olive grove in Grottole, was selected to join Airbnb’s new “WOW!” category, created to collect unique places where you can stay overnight through the platform.

You can book the unique experience of sleeping inside Wonder “Bee&Bee” by clicking on this link.

Soon we will also launch a calendar of possible activities to experience alone, with friends, with family, with children, with schools.

Fill out our form to find out before everyone else when and how you can book these experiences.

A bit of history – from residency to reality

Started by the dream of Rocco Filomeno, a beekeeper from Grottole, to realize an integrated apiary in 2020, we organized Wonder Residency with designers Davide Tagliabue and Carlo Roccafiorita to design Wonder Bee – a hybrid space of connection and exchange between man and nature, a micro-architecture to be built with hands starting from a grand vision of sustainable development.

Today Wonder Bee has changed its name to Wonder Bee&Bee and it is also possible to sleep inside. Wonder Bee&Bee is a facility that allows the combination of beekeeping and its beneficial properties for the community and tourists.

What is Wonder Bee&Bee

Wonder Bee&Bee is a wooden structure surrounded by hives intended for honey production. This system will also allow people to benefit from apitherapy, a wellness path made of scents and sounds, and to study the behavior of bees by promoting the defense and discovery of these animals so precious for the survival of the entire ecosystem.

Wonder Bee&Bee is an observatory on the world of bees, an educational classroom open to schools and families. The apiary is also a place to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, ensure food security, promote sustainable agriculture, combat climate change, agroecosystem pollution and promote innovative methodologies for environmental monitoring.

The crowdfunding campaign

On October 25, thanks to the support of the Funder35 call, a crowdfunding campaign (a participatory system of “bottom-up funding”) was launched, with the aim of realizing the first prototype of the project, as a resource for the area but also as a test study for the realization of an integrated apiary, to be replicated elsewhere.

Thanks to more than 180 supporters, we reached our goal and raised €10,371

On April 9, 2022 we held a first celebratory party dedicated just to the community of supporters of the crowdfunding campaign.

Thank you to all our supporters!