It will be presented in Terni on May 4th in BC the Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils 2024, curated by Slow Food Italia, created to raise awareness of the stories of oils, territories, producers who make the olive sector a distinctive and identifying element of our peninsula. An event that also includes a olfactory awakening experienceaccompanied by the performance of a theater actor, and the award ceremony for the best local producers.
The guide – The 2024 Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils has come to the attention of the public and professionals as a decisive tool for navigating the varied and complex world of oil and for getting to know the olive growers who fight every day to provide us with good, clean oil. and right, and which contribute to designing a landscape of great beauty, which also brings with it an extraordinary tourist value. This, therefore, is a Guide increasingly aimed at creating relationships: between producers and citizens, between places and products. The new edition can be purchased during the event or on www.slowfoodeditore.it.
“For thousands of years, cultivating the olive tree has been the most evident testimony to how human work and nature can come together in a masterful way – he underlines Federico Varazi, vice president of Slow Food Italy – An extraordinary relationship between biodiversity, agricultural and cultural landscape that makes Italy the country with the greatest crop variety in the world and one of the largest producers of quality Extra Virgin oil. A union which, however, is interrupted if quality production enters into crisis in favor of super-intensive agriculture models, based on the excessive use of natural resources, on lowering costs and on making profit as the sole objective. Small-scale non-intensive olive growing is going through a difficult time, due to the climate crisis, high production costs and lack of personnel. In some Italian regions, the countryside is becoming depopulated, the innermost territories are abandoned, hydrogeological instability phenomena are increasingly frequent and the environment is highly threatened. We are aware of this urgency and we can save our own
landscapes through sustainable olive growing, promoting environmentally friendly practices, and at the same time safeguarding the production and maintenance of local communities. The promotion of the Italian olive heritage remains the main mission of Slow Food, every year, with the publication of the Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils”.
The numbers of the Guide – For 24 years, thanks to a network of 125 collaborators, who are not only expert tasters, but people present in the area, who know the companies from the olive grove to the bottle, the Guide has offered a complete and rich cross-section of Italy’s oil production of details. In the 2024 edition, 686 realities are described, including oil mills, farms and oil mills (79 new features testifying to a very lively sector), 1071 oils are reviewed among the over 1300 tasted. The number of companies that certify the entire supply chain as organic is growing (483 certified oils) and the number of producers (191 for 207 oils) who have joined the Slow Food Secular Olives Presidium, the project that promotes environmental, landscape and health value, is growing. and economic management of the olive tree and its products, which protects ancient olive groves, native cultivars and brings together producers who do not use synthetic fertilizers and chemical herbicides.
The Guide also seeks to be an invitation to visit these realities to meet the producers and discover the olive growing heritage: for this reason it highlights the companies that offer catering (102) and those with the possibility of overnight stays (144).
Two curiosities which can be found among the pages of the Guide: for the first time companies from Piedmont are reviewed; on two occasions national borders are crossed to try to understand what is happening in the nearby areas of the Canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, and Slovenia.
How it went in Umbria: the awards – After some particularly hot summers, last summer, which was cooler, favored the return of the oil fly. Almost all regional olive-growing areas have been affected, and in particular those at altitudes around 450-600 metres. Despite this, the guide, in the Umbrian section, includes 19 companies of which 9 have been awarded for a total of 13 oils, 10 of which in the Large slow (organic) oils category and three Large oils.
The sensorial event – After the award ceremony of the companies, the afternoon will continue with an experience of high emotional value: the olfactory awakening, guided by experts and with suggestions related to the world of oil (by the actor Massimo Manini). Participants will learn to recognize the aromas present in oils and will participate in the OILBAR, with the kids from the Terni Hotel Institute, with a tasting session by true professional tasters. The appointment will conclude with a tasting in collaboration with bar Bct and Coclea Experience. Free participation upon reservation at 3482454025 (mandatory drink at the Bct bar).
The event takes place as part of the Pnrr M1C3 project – Intervention 2.1 – Attractiveness of historic villages. Pilot project for the cultural, social and economic regeneration of villages at risk of abandonment and abandoned. Cesi, gateway to Umbria and wonders. Open Doors for putdoor. Financed with PNRR – Next Generation Eu funds.
