We have selected olive-oils produced from three Italian counties. In the South of Italy the strenght of the sunshine and its lasting effect over the year gives extraordinary support for generating quality olives. In Tuscany, the hilly feature of the environment with its mild climate, produces an outstanding olive-oil which is universally considered as the best. People of these areas have an ancient culture about olive cultivation as well as the olive-oil production systems. Along with their old tradition, they continue to harvest olives by hand and to press them just using mechanical strength, without any chemical treatment or additives. The result is a limited amount of dripping oil, but of extremely high quality. Expressions like Cold Pressure or Manual Harvest keep on maintaining a specific meaning if related to the quality of the olive-oil making process. If the taste may be personal, the acidity is a significant parameter to express the quality of the olive-oil. Lower the acidity, more tasting and healthier is the product. Legal controls implemented by offices of the local agricultural Council, guarantee that an olive-oil may be upgraded as Extra Virgin if it bears an acidity lower than 1% . On the other hand, a Virgin oilive-oil has to be under 1.5% . Finally, everyone knows the healthy effect of the Mediterranean diet. Olive-oil helps to keep at bay heart stroke and cardiovascular disease. Many of the problems caused by the absorption of the lowest quality fats of butter and margarine , may be successfully fought by using an olive-oil diet over the time
 |
 Three coloured areas showing the Italian counties where our olive-oils are produced. |
