Italian Olive Oil Terroirs
An olive grove near Perugia (Umbria, Italy) © Olive Groves
Italy may lag far behind Spain in olive oil production, but it is the leader in terms of the diversity of its terroirs and the number of cultivated olive varieties. There are no fewer than 500 varieties grown commercially, of which 90 are widely cultivated, compared with 20 varieties that account for 70% of Spanish production.
This heritage is a legacy of the country's ancient olive-growing tradition, but also a consequence of its rugged topography, which makes it difficult to set up large farms with one (very productive) variety. Some of the varieties found in Italy only exist in a given terroir, or even in a single olive grove! This gives a truly unique character to certain oils, such as Marco Rizzo's Incipit, made with a variety, Nostrale di Felitto, found only in his valley of the Cilento natural reserve.
PDO (DOP in Italian) and PGI indications for olive oil in Italy
No fewer than 49 PDO and PGI geographic indications!
The numerous Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) reflect the great variety of olive oil terroirs. They can be found in almost every region, with six PDOs in each of the major producing regions of Apulia and Sicily. The PDO designation imposes origin and quality criteria, which include the following for extra virgin olive oil:
Local varieties for each territory
Local harvesting, extraction and bottling
Free fatty acid content < 0.5% (an indicator of the level of oxidation)
The most emblematic PDOs include PDO Garda, PDO Terre di Siena, PDO Umbria, PDO del Belice and PDO Terra di Bari. They are an easy point of reference for consumers in shops that do not make specialist sourcing for olive oil.