The Italian extra virgin olive oil sector can count on a biodiversity that is unique in the world with more than 500 cultivars and an ever-increasing spread, due to climate changes that lead to the spread of olive trees in northern regions and in traditionally less vocated territories.
Italian olive culture represents a pride and excellence of the Belpaese, embodying unique cultural and identity values of numerous distinct territories.
Fostering a proximity tourism, deseasonalizing tourist flows, and representing an element of enhancement for villages and small municipalities constitute elements of support for local olive growers in order to ensure the presidium of production chains of excellence in our agri-food heritage.
Last but not least, we can move toward the direction of “experiential tourism,” with the possibility of enhancing this extraordinary product that is EVO oil by reaching consumers directly through the telling of stories, ties and traditions.
Olive growing is tradition, culture, landscape, inextricably linked to the territories in which it is developed.
Strong interest in history is evidenced by an Italian olive oil tradition which has millennia-old roots, strongly rooted to the territories and with unique specificities: this is how places with great charm such as underground oil mills, historic olive groves and ancient dwellings become increasingly important attractions, and so does learning about the production culture of the territories and their evolution over time, opportunities to enrich one’s cultural background during a vacation time.
The civilization of the olive tree
The olive tree over the centuries has influenced the lives of Mediterranean peoples to such an extent that it has given rise to what some anthropologists call the
“olive civilization”
, which originated in Anatolia – ancient Turkey – and later spread westward.
The various peoples that arose on the shores of the Mediterranean thus lived in the shadow of the olive tree, which was considered the tree of civilization, as careful and lengthy selection, pruning, grafting and processing of olives was necessary to enjoy its fruits.
The olive tree became a cultural indicator of a people: in fact, its cultivation required specific botanical notions and a defined and organized social structure so that its fruits could be enjoyed years later.
