22/08/2023
Description
The introduction of the olive tree into the Euganean Hills took place in very distant times; some sources document its presence as far back as the Pliocene epoch, but it is more likely that the olive tree reached the Po Valley in pre-Roman times.
Some Roman authors, Polybius, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Juvenal and Martial, described the fertility of the area and the abundance of harvests.
In the 4th century A.D., in the work 'Historia Varia' by Claudius Elianus, it can be read that in the Euganean Hills focaccia made of flour and seasoned with olive oil and apples was prepared. In late antiquity, economic and political decay caused depopulation and environmental deterioration, resulting in the abandonment of cultivated fields and the advancement of forests and marshes.
From 1400 onwards, with Venetian rule, the olive gained a new importance and even after that, olive growing was no longer abandoned, as some documents from the first half of the 18th century describe.
The olive tree has such a close link with the Euganean territory that four native cultivations have survived for centuries: Rasara, Marzemina, Rondella and Matosso, each of which produces olives and oils of different qualities. Other varieties cultivated in the Euganean territory are Leccino and Frantoio.
Colli oil is processed according to an ancient tradition.
Seasonality
Available all year round
Production area
The extra virgin olive oil produced in the Euganean Hills area derives solely from trees cultivated in the 15 municipalities that fall wholly or partly within the perimeter of the Euganean Hills Regional Park.
