We are Mara and Alexu. Until 2016 we lived in Bucharest: Mara was a lawyer, Alexu a designer. In September 2015 we passed through Viscri. In October we came back to look for a house.
The house at number 32
We bought it on 21 January 2016. The Blue House had been built in 1912 by Johann Dootz, and nobody had lived in it for twenty years. There were two barns in the yard: a big one, today’s White Barn, and a small wooden one that collapsed in our first winter here. We saved what we could of it, and it became the New Barn. The craftsmen started on 25 February 2016. How we restored it is a story of its own: The restoration.
The village asked us for a restaurant
When word got round that two people from Bucharest had arrived, the village invited us to a meal. About twenty people came, wanting to know who we were and what we meant to do. At the end they told us what the village lacked: a restaurant, for the tourists who had nowhere to eat, and work for the village women. The men had work, with the animals and in building. The women didn’t.
Nobody expected us to last. The season is short, tourists were few, and winter means months with no income. The White Barn restaurant opened on 7 July 2017.
Our team is from the village
From the first day we wanted a social business: to work with people from the village. For many of our colleagues, Viscri 32 is their first job, and some have been with us almost since we opened. What we cook comes, as far as we can manage, from our neighbours and from producers within 75 kilometres.
Timeline
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1869 | The wooden barn that will become the New Barn is built |
| 1912 | Johann Dootz builds the Blue House |
| September 2015 | Our first visit to Viscri |
| 21 January 2016 | We buy the house at number 32 |
| 25 February 2016 | Restoration begins, with the architect Cristi Kiss |
| 7 July 2017 | The White Barn restaurant opens |
| 2018 | Arhitectura magazine publishes “The white house in Viscri” |
| 2019 | Ziarul Financiar features us in its series “Afaceri de la zero” (Businesses from scratch) |
| 2019 | Gault&Millau Romania names us one of its 6 special destinations in the country |
| August 2019 | “Teracota, mon amour!”, an exhibition by the Imbold Association and the Teracota Mediaș factory, opens in the East Bastion of the fortified church |
| 2020 | We finish the attic of the New Barn: the Walnut Room and the Sunset Room |
| 2022 | Radio România Cultural, “Veneticii — Alexu Toader” (The newcomers) |
| 2024 | The igloo album “Pensiuni din Transilvania 2024” includes us among its 14 selected guesthouses |
| 2024 | Zeppelin magazine, “Recuperare prin meșteșug” (Recovery through craft) |
| 2025 | igloo, “Slow Food în Șura Albă” (Slow food in the White Barn) |
What else we do
Alexu is a founding member of the Imbold Cultural Association, which works for crafts that are dying out. We are also among the founders of Slow Food Viscri.