The Company History
My family has historical traditions in olive cultivation. My paternal great-grandfather realized at the beginning of 1900 one of the first "modern mills" in Piceno and ran it for more than fifty years. Me, as a child, I was enchanted by this world, even through my free time building small systems crushing of olives and extraction of oil having only available to a meat grinder, pieces of cloth and a few articles of hardware. Then in 2003 my father, seeing grow more and more my passion, was persuaded to buy land that, even away from home, it was perfect for an olive grove. Immediately after we started to plant different varieties of olives, for a total of 1500 plants. Over the years, thanks to the trust of my parents, I always invested more in this sector and also manages other olive groves and so I expanded my business area.
Olive groves - The production areas
The main production area is located in Offida, a wonderful town on the valley of the province of Ascoli Piceno. Here lies the olive grove of my property, which has about 1500 olive trees of all local varieties, regional and national. I manage, then, more olive groves in areas of Castorano and Venarotta, always in the province of Ascoli Piceno. The presence of many varieties enables me to get good blend and monovarietal oils.
Methods of Conducting, Collection and Production
The run is strictly organic even outside of the certified surface, excluding all products of synthetic origin and by selecting the organic products present on the market. In case of water stress in the new plant it will make emergency irrigation and fertigation. The training is free polyconic vessel, for which cultivation technique I followed courses and I have carried out various regional and national competitions resulting always in a good level.
The harvest is manual with networks and facilitators tires and is held daily opening statement to preserve the moisture of the harvested olives; after harvest storage of the olives takes place in small boxes positioned in place non-irradiated and ventilated; everything to prevent fungal diseases.
The milling is daily and in some cases is done within 4 hours of collection, in others a few hours later but always within 12 hours.
The pressing follows the continuous cycle to avoid the undesirable fermentations dates from the traditional extraction system. After processing the oil is stored in stainless steel tanks to avoid direct contact with the light and with the air, using floating and nitrogen which avoid the oxidation of fatty acids, the most frequent alteration of the oil and the source of formation of peroxides: compounds whose decomposition generates volatile substances, which substantially modify the properties of the oil, causing, in addition, the defect of rancid to sensory perception.
Storage takes place in an air conditioned room to preserve the oils from the cold winter and hot summer. In this way we try to protect the extra virgin oil by his three most feared enemies: air, light and temperature.
The product can be filtered or unfiltered, depending on the needs of the company or the customer. The technique of filtration is specific and optimized for each type of oil. This has the aim to eliminate in almost all of the oil particles in suspension (pulp and pit) which are present in the oil just extracted. If the oil is not filtered these particles will tend to slowly settle to the bottom of the container, producing, through fermentation, the undesired effect of reducing the oil storage time.
With the filtration is obtained a much more brilliant oil whose qualities are preserved longer in time. The final packaging, both in strictly dark glass in cans, is done on demand or on a monthly basis to try and safeguard the product as much as possible and to ensure the highest quality.