Learning about extra virgin olive oil > Origins, History and environment

Le vThe varieties of olive which are common nowadays derive from wild plants that man began to cultivate 6000 years ago, in the Syria-Palestine area, where the oldest evidence of cultivation has been found.

“The peoples of the Mediterranean began to come forth from barbarianism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine.” So writes Tucidide in the V Century b.C. The story of the olive is a long one which accompanies the development of Mediterranean civilization and represents one of the most meaningful symbols and components of the area which we have today.

The olive, the botanic name of which is “Olea Europea Sativa”, of the Oleaceae family, exists in numerous varieties, with over 700 local types, called “cultivars”, spread over an area which lies between the 35° and 45° parallel of North latitude, an area with a temperate climate which suits the olive’s requirements for maximum and minimum temperatures; all these characteristics can be found along the Mediterranean coastal strip, and in particular on the Italian coast; it is no accident that Italy is the largest producer of quality oil.

Recent years have seen the expansion of olive cultivation in countries where the olive was hitherto unknown, such as Australia, Argentina, California and New Zealand, but the Mediterranean has an overall monopoly in world production.

The choice of the cultivar to plant in each region depends directly on the geomorphologic characteristics of the soil and bioclimactic conditions of the olive grove; over the centuries each zone has selected a few cultivars which, through a slow process of adaptation, have taken on typical characteristics, which today are recognized by the current legislation on “Denomination of Protected Origin” – EEC reg. n. 2081/1992.

The basic varieties, which can be considered the family founder members, are in Italy the Taggiasca from Liguria, the Frantoio, common the central area of the country, the Moraiolo, from the same area, the Carboncella from Lazio, the Saragana of the Marche province, typical of Ascoli Piceno, the Coratina from Puglia, the Carolea from Calabria, the Nocellara and the Ogliarola, both Sicilian varieties, and others.

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