/ Magazine / Other Articles / Wedding dresses and catwalk outfits, Bolle Blu laundry is the perfect choice

Wedding dresses and catwalk outfits, Bolle Blu laundry is the perfect choice

The story of Francesco Lopedota and Rosalba Fiorino is that of a marriage, that in Altamura, besides their three children, has also offered this outstanding business, that is reflecting the image of Puglia, a region of innovation and wordliness. A milestone that was achieved knowing how, in the 21st century, the textile care sector requires machines and products for treating always more diversified garments

The story of Francesco Lopedota and Rosalba Fiorino

“We became specialists in treating the formal wear, but also the haute-couture items – explains Francesco Lopedota, the sales manager of Bolle Blu Srl. – Everything connected to elegance in this area is passing through our front desk and machinery. And we realise it every time when the ‘Made in Italy’ designers are looking for our services. They are entrusting us the clothes they are using for their events, more frequently organised in the modern Puglia of nowadays, very fashionable but also very innovative”. The blue sea of Gargano, a steaming plate of orecchiette, the trulli houses of Alberobello, the oils awarded with Gambero Rosso stars, the fish market of Bari and the unpolluted masserie (farmhouses) of Salento, the laundries Bolle Blu of Altamura are therefore the testimonials of the unique beautiness of Puglia in 2023.”

“And we are keen to show it to our customers right from the reception desk, when they should immediately feel that comfort of empathy and healthy environment”: This is the dynamic and multifaceted business culture thanks to which, the Puglia of 2023 – according to ISTAT data is one of the regions that had recovered the most after the covid times – shows a Beautiness that is above all ‘alive’, and immersed in the moods and the trends of nowadays. It is represented by companies like this Srl, developed through the history of the two shops located in Via Agedabia 2 and Via Palestrina 54, currently managed by six employees. There is no coincidence that the brand Bolle Blu is periodically displayed among the 400 laundries in the world identified as international excellence in the sector by Cinet, an international research institution, for the so-called “good practices”, crucial in any development perspective.

From washing technologies to quality control

“We have always aimed for the best practices, as focus point of our activity: from the washing technologies to the quality control of each processing stage, from the professional excellence of our equipment to the sustainability of every environment we operate in”, specifies Francesco Lopedota, the sales manager of Bolle Blu. By using the plural, he recalls the history of the business born from his commitment combined with that of his wife Rosalba Fiorino, the technical manager of the two laundries located in the marvellous town of Alta Murgia, just 40 km away from Bari, considered so ancient because of the remains of the Man of Altamura, who used to live there about 150.000 years ago. Chronologically speaking, the first good practices were dated back to 1979, when Rosalba Fiorino, a 14-year-old girl, decides to acquire her own independence, joining the Desantis laundry as an apprentice, one of the most famous textile care centres in the area.

It was such a fruitful apprenticeship that in 1988 it was already the time for Rosalba to start her own business, LF, the abbreviation for Lavanderia Fiorino. “These were all steps that we took together,” reveals the husband, “concluded with the life project that in 1989 led us to marriage. For me, a salesman all my lifetime, the turning point came when, in 1982, I have started working for a detergents company, a sector where I have acquired so many fundamental skills in the textile care”. Unavoidably, the sacrifices and the experiences of both have led them to tie the knot, not only in the wedding dress, but also for work. The first step taken by the couple was to open a second laundry laboratory named “’Eurolavapel”, established in 1999 and focused on the treatment of the leather garments, while seven years later, in 2006, it arrived the moment to gather in a single location all the activities undertaken until that point.

This is how the Bolle Blu srl company was born

“This is how we founded Bolle Blu srl, – continues Francesco Lopedota, – and if it succeeded to be so much successful, it is dew to the fact that Rosalba and I, have been able to assimilate all the dynamics of a constantly changing market at first hand. Nowadays, people are no longer using so much wool or cotton garments, but they are using instead a variety of materials, whether natural or synthetic. So, when it comes to textile care, the famous good practices are now being multiplied in a way that was unthinkable just a decade ago. We are both aware of this, also our employees, and even all our three children, that have begun to understand the real meaning of Bolle Blu”.

“If we can call ourselves specialists in formal wear or catwalk outfits,” explains the sales manager of Bolle Blu further on, “it is because this type of garment stands out at the top of a pyramid that includes them all, in a sector where nowadays it is necessary to be flawless in every kind of treatment required: perchlorine, Wet Cleaning, Natural Solving and everything else available on the market today as products of excellence”. While speaking, Francesco Lapedota is transmitting an impressive enthusiasm and optimism. Knowing that this originates from an entrepreneurial and family path at the same time, this is not so much surprising. On the contrary.

Read also

Laundry Laboratories

December 2025

Care and maintenance of technical garments: operating guidelines