Calabria PGI Gets One Big Step Closer

Recent News

Another Italian region is set to acquire the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) after Tuscany and more recently Sicily.

The defin­i­tive appli­ca­tion for the reg­is­tra­tion of PGI for extra vir­gin olive oil from Calabria has been pub­lished in the Official Journal of the European Union and now the pro­ce­dure requires five months to allow the other mem­ber states to sub­mit any objec­tion. If there is no oppo­si­tion, after reg­is­tra­tion the indi­ca­tion ​‘Olio di Calabria IGP’ will be offi­cial.

“This is the last step before the final reg­is­tra­tion of the qual­ity mark cer­ti­fied and rec­og­nized by the EU,” announced the pres­i­dent of the Calabria Region Mario Oliverio in a note. ​“The PGI will reward com­mit­ment, sac­ri­fice and pro­fes­sion­al­ism of Calabrian farm­ers who pro­duce high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil and will cer­tify that cul­ti­va­tion, milling and pro­duc­tion process are entirely real­ized in Calabria.

“This will pro­tect the Calabrian olive oil sec­tor and will rec­og­nized the excel­lence of its pro­duc­tion on Italian, European and inter­na­tional mar­ket.” The region, also within the frame­work of Community sup­port, will con­tinue to pur­sue the pro­mo­tion of qual­ity by sus­tain­ing pro­duc­ers and encour­ag­ing excel­lence. Moreover, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion will pro­tect con­sumers since the trace­abil­ity of the entire pro­duc­tion chain will be guar­an­teed.

The pres­i­dent of Confagricoltura Calabria, Alberto Statti, and the pres­i­dent of the national asso­ci­a­tion of young farm­ers ANGA Calabria, Giuseppe Barbaro, in a joint state­ment wel­comed the pub­li­ca­tion in the OJEU as ​“another impor­tant and deci­sive step. Regional pro­duc­tion will be pro­moted, com­mer­cial­ized and espe­cially safe­guarded thanks to a unique qual­ity cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. The name of the PGI ​‘Olio di Calabria’ will appear in clear char­ac­ters on the label, where the year of pro­duc­tion shall be spec­i­fied and the ref­er­ence to organic pro­duc­tion will be allowed.”

According to spec­i­fi­ca­tion, the PGI ​‘Olio di Calabria’ should con­sist of 90 per­cent exclu­sively of extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duced from local cul­ti­vars that are wide­spread in the region includ­ing Carolea, Dolce di Rossano, Sinopolese, Grossa di Gerace, Tondina, Ottobratica, Grossa di Cassano, Tonda di Strongoli, indi­vid­u­ally or jointly. The remain­ing 10 per­cent may come from less wide­spread local vari­eties like Nostrana, Spezzanese, Santomauro, Dolce di Cerchiara, Tombarello, Ciciarello, Zinzifarica, Galatrese, Tonda di Filocaso, Tonda di Filadelfia, Borgese, Pennulara, Mafra, Vraja, Agristigna, Corniola, while up to 3 per­cent may come from other national cul­ti­vars that serve as pol­li­na­tors.

The logo is made up of a repro­duc­tion of the Riace bronzes (two naked bearded war­riors prob­a­bly of Greek ori­gin from the fifth cen­tury BC, found on the seabed of the Ionian coast near Riace in 1972 and now pre­served in the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria). The emblems of Calabria and its strong con­nec­tion with the coun­tries around the Mediterranean, are embraced by two styl­ized branches of olive tree linked by three olives at the onset of ripen­ing, with the inten­tion to sug­gest the con­cepts of qual­ity, ter­ri­tory and new­ness.

• Il Giornale di Calabria


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