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Our extra virgin olive oil
"Olea prima omnium arborum est"
If we think of Italy and its landscapes, together with the vast expanse of vineyards, hills and hamlets, we cannot fail to notice the silvery mantle that stretches from north to south throughout the peninsula.
The olive tree has been the symbol of Mediterranean culture and a lifestyle synonymous with health and good living for thousands of years.
1200 olive trees extend into the gardens of Villa degli Olivi,Collina dei Fiori, Casale il Trecento and Villa Giotto.
Our grandfather, Luigi Capannini, taught us respect and devotion to these fruit trees and the patience to be able to accept the seasons weather patterns, without altering their rhythms. In October, the olive harvest begins, entirely by hand, and the whole family gather in the fields for weeks.
At the end of each day, we take the harvest to the mill where it is immediately cold pressed in order not to alter the taste and aromas.
Throughout the year, we use only organic and non-invasive products for fertilization in order to protect the soil, the plants themselves, the animals and the consumer.
During your stay, you will have the chance to taste our olive oil, and walk in the olive groves for a fully typical experience, in the Tuscan countryside.
"For centuries, olive oil means that the people who use it have better health."
"For centuries, olive oil means that the people who use it have better health."
BENEFITS OF EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
Among the benefits of a diet rich in the anti-inflammatory antioxidant action of extra virgin olive oil, are the following:
- Increases the skin's ability to retain moisture
- Reduces bad cholesterol
- Increases good cholesterol
- Helps intestinal absorption
- Helps gall bladder activity
- Less chance of gall bladder stones
- Lowers blood pressure
- Decreases gastric acid secretion in ulcers
- Stimulates pancreatic secretion
- It helps the development of bones in children
- Prevents osteoporosis
- Decreases glucose levels in diabetics
- Reduces the risk of prostate cancer and reduces the risk of breast cancer.
The History of Oil
Italy is one of the largest growers and consumers of olive oil and the history of this plant is lost in the mists of time. The olive tree gives us one of the most precious ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine and has always been part of the human imagination, so much, so that they already recognised the first traces of it in ancient times. The ancient kings were anointed with the pouring of olive oil on their heads. 3,000 years ago, David, King of Israel, was anointed and olive branches was anointed and olive branches were extended by the faithful in thepresence of Jesus, a symbolic sign of recognition and acceptance. A myth says that Zeus, wishing to give sovereign power to Athens and Attica, proposed a competition to the gods: who offered the most useful gift, would gain sovereignty. In the end, only two competitors remained. Athena who offered the olive tree and Poseidon, who presented himself with a white horse. Athena won, bearer of a symbol of peace, despite the gift of Poseidon, emblem of war. The Romans, in turn, boast the oil of a further virtue, the medicinal one. The importance of this meant that in Roman times the cultivation of olive trees was enormous in all areas of the empire. The "liquid gold" continued through the ages, parallel to the history of mankind, up to the Middle Ages in which the Cistercian and Benedictine monks began planting olive trees around their abbeys, selecting the most suitable cultivars and trying to revive a culture of value and agricultural economy,devastated by the wars of previous centuries. The eighteenth century saw the birth of a real cataloguing of olive tree and its fruit, classified according to their geographical origin. The ever-growing economy encourages its cultivation, and the fame of "liquid gold" expands, thus reaching most European countries. The quality of the Italian product begins to be recognised, and it's precisely in the eighteenth century that Tuscany refines its olive-growing qualities, extending its cultivation to the maximum. Today, the nutritional value of the oil has been significantly re-evaluated; thanks to the global success of Mediterranean cuisine, which makes its presence at the table a distinctive feature. Olive oil thus becomes a successful Italian phenomenon worldwide.