The region of
Abruzzo is blessed with a mild climate which favours the cultivation of olive trees. Nine million of them, including our 61 trees, to be very precise! The olives are mostly pressed in traditional olive presses in mills dotted around the region.
Abruzzo has joined the D.O.P. (Protected Denomination of Origin) designation instituted by the EU in order to guarantee the origin and varieties of olives used in the production of olive oil are of the highest standards.
"Frantoi Aperti"The programme of events looked very inviting. "Open Olive Mills. Discover the World of Olive Oil". The anticipation of a fun-filled morning was even more enticing. The excellent post "
Oil in Three Parts " from
www.aboutabruzzo.com, filled us with even greater expectations, so with no more ado we set off for
Loreto Aprutino a historical village in Abruzzo, full of museums and treasures, set amidst numerous olive groves.
A Guided TourWe had booked a guided tour via the Loreto Aprutino Information Office for 7th November, starting at 10.30 am. The cost was 5 euros each, an incredible price! We got to Piazza Garibaldi in good time and boarded a mini bus together with about 12 other Italian visitors. We were driven to a local olive farm and the history of olive oil cultivation in the area was skilfully and engagingly imparted to us by members of
ARSSA (Regional Agency for the Development of Agricultural Services in Abruzzo). Next stop a traditional olive mill where we saw the beautiful "liquid gold" as it is known, pouring out in front of our very eyes.
Crates and crates of people's olives just waiting to be pressed at the local mill.
As you can see from the picture, the end product is a rich and thick golden olive oil coming straight from the press.
Loreto Aprutino Oil Museum
Together with our excellent guide Paola above, we walked through the ancient alleyways of Loreto Aprutino and visited the historical
Olive Oil Museum housed in a beautiful Gothic-looking building in the heart of the village. Here is a link to "
Worth a Drizzle" from
Life in Abruzzo blog, which features a very well researched article on this museum.
The ancient interior of the museum houses old artefacts and mementos connected to the olive oil making process. Below is a photo of a very ornate press.
Olive oil from Abruzzo has been exported all over the world. It is renowned for its perfect qualities. It has won numerous international awards. The poster below is of an International Olive Oil Exposition held in Venice at the beginning of the 20th century.
Below a scene depicting
San Zopito, the patron saint of Loreto Aprutino.
The Regional Oil Art History Museum of AbruzzoNext and final stop on our grand tour was the
Regional Oil Art History Museum where we listened to a fascinating account of the various oils produced in the region. This talk then led on to the art of olive oil tasting. We were shown how to literally "put our noses into the olive oil" to smell and savour its full flavour. This immediately evoked a sense of freshness and fragrance and I could actually taste the actual fruit from which it came from. The flavour was very intense and amazing. I had never tasted olive oil on its own before and it was indeed an experience!
Finally, we were led to a room which had tables laden with delicious, traditional Abruzzo meats, cheeses, and homemade bread drizzled in olive oil. We were cordially invited to sample local wines from the area. As you can see above, I enjoyed myself immensely!
I would like to thank The Loreto Aprutino Tourist Information Office and everybody involved for organising such a wonderful and fascinating guided tour. K and I had a fabulous time and as relatively novice olive oil cultivators ourselves, we learned a huge amount about the history and background to this fruit which has been cultivated in Abruzzo for centuries.
Characters from Loreto AprutinoA curious cat peering over a wall.
Aforementioned cat in model pose.
A Sophia look-a-like we encountered on our delightful walk through the village.
Some of my Favourite BooksYou might be interested in the following books which I have enjoyed reading:
Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes (set amongst the olive groves of Liguria) and the sequel,
Ripe for the Picking The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater (set in the South of France)
Please do let me know if you have read any similar books you would like to recommend.
Post ScriptumAre you living in an area surrounded by olive groves and would like to recount your experiences on this blog? I would love to hear from you!
View from my home.
Image above was taken yesterday near where I live. Click on the picture to see it in full.
op of Loreto Aprutino's historical quarter, we spent a very pleasant 3 hours last night at the Lauretum Vinum et Oleum Event. A wine and olive oil event which was fantastic and enjoyable. It was also extremely well organised and exhibitors from the local area were there to explain each of the different types of food and wine on offer. For the modest sum of 10 euros each, we were given a wineglass in a special pouch container to hang around our neck and 2 blocks of 15 tickets each for the samples of delights to come.
Part of the "Vinum et Oleum" tour involved going into the Acerbo Museum of Castelli Ceramics.
Below a flyer of the Wine and Olive Oil Event hosted by Loreto Aprutino.
I love this image below from the wall of the Olive Oil museum which shows a family gathered together for a group photo. I have a similar family photo from Abruzzo taken many years ago like this one, but it is still in one of my boxes somewhere. It's a piece of time stood still.
Below an image of our olives, a reminder that we live in an area blessed with abundant amounts of olive trees, a life force for many of the local famers. Some of the prestigious bottles of olive oil on display at the event cost up to 90 euros for a 750 ml bottle, a very special olive oil indeed! Olive oil has often been alluded to as "Liquid Gold" and I guess there must be a reason for this name.
You may also like to read:
Above you can see an edited image of where part of the fabulous event took place. Very Gothic -looking indeed!
The cultivation of olive oil makes for a nice alternative to the day job. Recently it was a case of "straight off the plane from England, and into the grove". The olive grove now has 70 trees which were each individually handpicked for 3 days by myself and K. We aim to expand to 100 trees soon, with the help of Xmas and birthday present money from "la famiglia". The posts to mark where each young 2 or 3 -year-old tree will go have already been dug in, ready for the grand event. A 5-year-old olive tree costs 25 euros, and anything older costs much, much more.
I was aided and abetted by 4 chickens. We used to have 7, but 3 of them are now sadly defunct, due to being whisked away by external wild forces. Trying to remove Samantha from the branches was also a little bit tricky!
Below is a Tuxpi-edited "Swirl" image of Samantha.
Here's me relaxing on the edge of the embankment. Below you can see some more trees in the olive grove.
A view of the back of the car, fully loaded up with our freshly picked olives, ready to go to the local olive mill. We paid 30 euros to have the olives pressed and given back to us in containers. We then poured the lovely oil into a big stainless steel container, which now has pride of place in our cool (no central heating yet) hallway.
Can you guess which of the glasses below contain:
a) 2009 olive oil
If trends continue to go upwards, as indicated in the graph below, I wonder if in the future, I could devote myself more fully to the cultivation of olive oil? It would be something very exciting.
Here is a link to a post I wrote last year on the subject of olive oil cultivation in Abruzzo.
Lauretum Vinum et Oleum
Image above of ornate Castelli pot found via Yahoo search on Castelli images
The region of Abruzzo is blessed with a mild climate which favours the cultivation of olive trees. Nine million of them, including our 61 trees, to be very precise! The olives are mostly pressed in traditional olive presses in mills dotted around the region. Abruzzo has joined the D.O.P. (Protected Denomination of Origin) designation instituted by the EU in order to guarantee the origin and varieties of olives used in the production of olive oil are of the highest standards.
Crates and crates of people's olives just waiting to be pressed at the local mill.
As you can see from the picture, the end product is a rich and thick golden olive oil coming straight from the press.
Together with our excellent guide Paola above, we walked through the ancient alleyways of Loreto Aprutino and visited the historical Olive Oil Museum housed in a beautiful Gothic-looking building in the heart of the village. Here is a link to "Worth a Drizzle" from Life in Abruzzo blog, which features a very well researched article on this museum.
Olive oil from Abruzzo has been exported all over the world. It is renowned for its perfect qualities. It has won numerous international awards. The poster below is of an International Olive Oil Exposition held in Venice at the beginning of the 20th century.
Below a scene depicting San Zopito, the patron saint of Loreto Aprutino.
Finally, we were led to a room which had tables laden with delicious, traditional Abruzzo meats, cheeses, and homemade bread drizzled in olive oil. We were cordially invited to sample local wines from the area. As you can see above, I enjoyed myself immensely!
Aforementioned cat in model pose.
A Sophia look-a-like we encountered on our delightful walk through the village.
Some of my Favourite Books
View from my home.
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