As old as time

This afternoon we went to an olive grove, in Alta Venafrana, with about 800 trees. The farmer and his team do things the old way, and choose to harvest the olives earlier, despite the lower yield, as this gives an oil of a much higher quality.

The olives produced are of 3 different types; paesana bianca, paesana nera and sperone di gallo. The farmer also filters his oil to remove sediment, which is not always the case. He explained that for an olive oil to be considered 'extra virgin', the oil has to meet a certain criteria during a chemical analysis, along with a taste test carried out by experts.

We got to taste a couple of different olive oils, made with different types of olives, of different strength. The difference in colour and taste was quite marked.

Olive trees normally take 300 to mature and a further 300 to die. When a tree dies, this is not the end, as a new tree grows around the old trunk, which you can see in one if the photos below. 17 September 2025