Family Project Revives Abandoned Groves in Italy’s Sannio Region

Summary

Settemisure, founded in Sannio in 2018, was born out of a dev­as­tat­ing flood that prompted cousins to restore their grand­fa­ther’s olive trees and expand their grove in Solopaca. The com­pany focuses on native vari­eties, such as Ortice, to pro­duce award-win­ning olive oil while pro­mot­ing sus­tain­abil­ity and local tra­di­tions through events and farm-to-table expe­ri­ences.

Named after the Samnite peo­ple who inhab­ited the area between the 5^th and 3^rd cen­turies B.C., Sannio stretches across parts of cen­tral and south­ern Italy, offer­ing an unspoiled land­scape where woods and wild areas blend with farm­land and small vil­lages.

Settemisure was founded in this ter­ri­tory in 2018, when cousins Francesca and Mariarosaria Tancredi and Alberto Di Santo returned from other cities to launch a qual­ity-dri­ven project rooted in their fam­ily land. What might appear as a sim­ple return to their ori­gins was instead sparked by a dev­as­tat­ing event.

“We were able to cre­ate some­thing good from a dra­matic occa­sion,” Di Santo told Olive Oil Times. ​“It all began with the flood that hit the Benevento area in October 2015. After that, we started restor­ing the land that had belonged to our grand­fa­ther and reviv­ing his olive trees.”

Following the flood­ing caused by heavy rain­fall that led two rivers to over­flow, the cousins began recov­er­ing a plot with 50 olive trees that had once been used for fam­ily con­sump­tion.

“We all have won­der­ful mem­o­ries of har­vest­ing those trees together years ago,” Di Santo said. ​“With that in mind, we began the recla­ma­tion work, and the results encour­aged us to expand to nearby plots.”

The grove is located in Solopaca, within the Taburno Camposauro Regional Park at the foothills of the Apennines. As they explored the sur­round­ing area, the founders iden­ti­fied aban­doned groves and began restor­ing them while study­ing local cul­ti­vars to high­light their value.

“Sannio is still lit­tle known,” Di Santo said. ​“By focus­ing on its native vari­eties, we wanted to give the ter­ri­tory a voice through the dis­tinc­tive­ness of its pro­duc­tion.”

The name Settemisure, mean­ing ​“seven mea­sures,” refers to the size of the orig­i­nal fam­ily grove. Historical cadas­tral maps revealed that the land mea­sured seven ​“mis­ure,” an old unit cor­re­spond­ing to roughly one-third of a hectare.

Over time, the com­pany expanded by acquir­ing or man­ag­ing addi­tional plots and plant­ing new trees. Today, about 2,000 new olive trees have been added across hilly ter­rain rang­ing from 100 to 480 meters above sea level.

“The uneven ter­rain requires extra effort,” Di Santo noted. ​“We main­tained a tra­di­tional lay­out, which also helps pre­serve the landscape’s char­ac­ter.”

The groves fea­ture local vari­eties such as Ortolana, Racioppella, Femminella and Ortice. The lat­ter is used to pro­duce their mono­va­ri­etal Mosaico, which earned a Gold Award at the 2026 NYIOOC for its bal­anced pro­file and notes of cut grass, apple and tomato leaf.

The com­pany fol­lows a sus­tain­abil­ity-focused approach to olive oil pro­duc­tion, using organic fer­til­iz­ers and care­fully man­ag­ing water resources.

“Even dur­ing the hottest months, we gen­er­ally have enough water,” Di Santo said. ​“While many areas strug­gled with drought, our trees showed no sig­nif­i­cant signs of stress.”

Harvested olives are quickly trans­ported to nearby mills equipped with mod­ern tech­nol­ogy, ensur­ing prompt pro­cess­ing and pre­serv­ing qual­ity.

Participation in inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tions reflects the company’s ambi­tions to expand its exports and strengthen its pres­ence abroad.

Beyond pro­duc­tion, Settemisure is also com­mit­ted to pro­mot­ing the region through events, tast­ings and farm-to-table expe­ri­ences, intro­duc­ing vis­i­tors to local prod­ucts and tra­di­tions.

“This land is still unknown to many,” Di Santo said. ​“By wel­com­ing vis­i­tors, we can share our work and con­tribute to keep­ing the local com­mu­nity vibrant.”