The oil, one of the most familiar products to us, finds its origin in the "mists of time". The olive tree, which gives us one of the most precious ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine, extra virgin olive oil, has always been part of the human imagination, so much so that the first traces of it can already be seen in Greek mythology. 


  The myth tells that Zeus, wanting to give a ruler to Athens and Attica, proposed a competition to the gods: sovereignty would be assigned to the most useful gift. In the end, only two competitors remained: Athena who offered the olive tree to the judgment of Zeus, and Poseidon, who showed up with a white horse. Athena, the bearer of a symbol of peace, won, despite the gift of Poseidon, an emblem of war.



From this myth to the conception of oil as a divine fruit, the step was short. Both the Old Testament and Christianity bear witness to this; the olive branches were in fact waved by the faithful in the presence of Jesus, a manifest and symbolic sign of recognition and acceptance. Native to the East, the olive tree found fertile land in Crete in the Minoan age; and it is precisely on this island that the habit of preserving and exporting it arises. Furthermore, again in the Greek world, a new use is discovered that goes beyond the food sphere. The oil turns into a precious ointment to keep the body hydrated and in perfect shape.



The Romans, in turn, adorn the oil with a further virtue, the medicinal one. The importance of this function means that in Roman times the cultivation of the olive tree found enormous development. It is they who give a new boost to the development of olive cultivation, so much so that the need for a classification is born. This all-purpose product is divided into five different types. The idea brings with it considerable commercial implications; the market, in fact, shows interest and thus new professional figures are born: oil sellers. The marketing of oil it is rationalized and even regulated with the creation of a sort of stock exchange where the purchase and sale prices are dealt with. This is how the oil, and with it its plant, the olive tree, are inextricably linked to the history of man.


The prized product goes through in the following centuries, parallel to the history of humanity, dark periods, when it is relegated only to the attention of the great monasteries; but also periods of extreme flowering, thanks to the new contractual forms guaranteed to peasants in the Middle Ages. During the fourteenth century, two schools of thought emerged regarding condiments; on the one hand, the populations of Northern Europe affirm the primacy of animal fats, a belief due to the development of pig farming, from which everything needed for daily nutrition is obtained. In the South, however, especially in Italy, oil continues to be the condiment natural par excellence.



The eighteenth century saw the birth of a real cataloging of the olive tree and its fruits, classified according to geographical origin. The growing economy encourages its cultivation, and the fame of yellow gold expands, thus reaching most of the European countries. The quality of the Italian product begins to be recognized, and it is precisely in the eighteenth century that Liguria and Tuscany refine their olive-growing skills, extending their cultivation to the maximum. During the nineteenth century olive groves invade Umbria, a region destined to remain one of the major oil producers for a long time.


Thus we arrive at the twentieth century; in the decades after the war and the economic boom, oil saw a considerable decrease in its nutritional value. Considered a poor food, it is set aside, leaving room for the "rich" animal fats. Today, the nutritional value of the oil has been considerably re-evaluated; thanks to the global success of Mediterranean cuisine, which makes its presence at the table one of its distinctive features. Olive oil thus becomes an Italian phenomenon of success all over the world.