Our olive grove
is nestled on the terraced slopes of the Hyblean Mountains, at an altitude between 650 and 750 m. We grow different local cultivars such as Nocellara Messinese, Nocellara Etnea, and Zaituna.
Most of our trees are of the region’s prime cultivar, the Tonda Iblea. Tonda means rounded and derives from the olives’ characteristic shape. The cultivar does particularly well at higher altitudes and was traditionally grown to produce dark and flavourful table olives. Tonda iblea tends to produce less oil than other varieties (only around 12-13% under our climatic and soil conditions), but therefore the oil has an intense fruity, pungent and slightly bitter flavour.
How it all started
My father bought our land when I was a child and started the long and laborious process of cultivating it. Once, there were only the remains of an old farmhouse and just a couple of trees. Since then, our oliveto has grown and contains well over 1200 trees.
Our oldest trees are centenarians and breathe the history of the land. One of them, over 300 years old and a wild olive at its base, was grafted with two different cultivars: one for producing oil and one for table olives. A little quirk of one of the custodians of this land before us.
How we work
Life in the Hybleans can be harsh – scorching sun in summer and sometimes snow in winter. Therefore we can only value the strength of nature and all life in our olive grove.
No chemicals whatsoever are used. We do most of our work manually and at the pace of nature. Our oil is mechanically extracted and bottled at the local mill, a little over 2km away from our land.
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