New Guidelines for Tourist Olive Picking in Italy

Summary

The Città dell’Olio asso­ci­a­tion and Italy’s National Labor Inspectorate have signed an agree­ment to reg­u­late olive pick­ing expe­ri­ences for tourists in com­pli­ance with labor laws, enhanc­ing the country’s oleo­tourism offer­ing. Only farms and mills that offer oleo­tourism activ­i­ties in accor­dance with cur­rent leg­is­la­tion are autho­rized to orga­nize par­tic­i­pa­tory olive har­vests, pro­vid­ing an infor­ma­tive, edu­ca­tional, and recre­ational expe­ri­ence for tourists.

The Città dell’Olio asso­ci­a­tion and Italy’s National Labor Inspectorate (INL) have signed a mem­o­ran­dum of under­stand­ing reg­u­lat­ing olive pick­ing expe­ri­ences for tourists through­out the coun­try.

The agree­ment sets out guide­lines to ensure that olive har­vest­ing tourist activ­i­ties are con­ducted safely and in com­pli­ance with cur­rent labor laws – this aligns with the stan­dards already adopted for tourist grape har­vest in Italy.

“The reg­u­la­tion of the tourist olive pick­ing expe­ri­ence is another impor­tant step to enhance the country’s oleo­tourism offer­ing,” said Michele Sonnessa, pres­i­dent of Città dell’Olio, upon sign­ing the agree­ment along with Stefano Marconi, head of the INL’s cen­tral inter­re­gional labor direc­torate.

“We strive to sup­port millers and olive grow­ers in their activ­i­ties and to pro­tect tourists who wish to enjoy a unique expe­ri­ence safely,” Sonnessa added. ​“We hope that this ini­tia­tive will encour­age more peo­ple to visit the olive oil-pro­duc­ing areas to dis­cover their cul­tural, artis­tic and land­scape beauty, and par­tic­i­pate in this type of expe­ri­en­tial activ­i­ties hosted by farms.”

The open­ing arti­cle of the guide­lines states that the par­tic­i­pa­tory olive har­vest is among the activ­i­ties that can be car­ried out in the con­text of oleo­tourism, accord­ing to the exist­ing leg­isla­tive frame­work under Law No. 160 of December 27, 2019, and Decree No. 37 of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies of January 26, 2022. 

It also empha­sizes that oleo­tourism rep­re­sents a dri­ving force for the cul­tural, land­scape and enogas­tro­nomic pro­mo­tion of the coun­try, and a strate­gic lever for diver­si­fi­ca­tion for agri­cul­tural busi­nesses, enabling them to sup­ple­ment their income with expe­ri­ence-based tourism activ­i­ties. 

Only farms and mills that offer oleo­tourism activ­i­ties in accor­dance with cur­rent leg­is­la­tion are autho­rized to orga­nize par­tic­i­pa­tory olive har­vests. They are required to pro­vide appro­pri­ate insur­ance cov­er­age, and the activ­ity must be car­ried out under the con­stant super­vi­sion of qual­i­fied per­son­nel. 

The guide­lines spec­ify that tourist olive pick­ing has an infor­ma­tive, edu­ca­tional and recre­ational nature and can­not be con­sid­ered work. 

The activ­ity is aimed at pro­mot­ing tra­di­tional and mod­ern har­vest­ing tech­niques, the agro­nomic char­ac­ter­is­tics of olive groves, and the pro­duc­tive and cul­tural value of extra vir­gin olive oil.

Among the com­pa­nies that have planned tourist olive pick­ing activ­i­ties for the upcom­ing har­vest sea­son, there is Podere del Pari in Calci, near Pisa, Tuscany. 

“We’re a young com­pany, founded in 2023, and we truly appre­ci­ate this ini­tia­tive,” co-founder Loredana Fortunato told Olive Oil Times. ​“It reflects a desire often expressed by many of our agri­tourism guests: to have a hands-on expe­ri­ence in the field, such as par­tic­i­pat­ing in the olive har­vest.” 

“We already orga­nize olive oil tast­ings, and with the har­vest activ­i­ties now reg­u­lated, we can offer a com­plete and safe expe­ri­ence to our guests,” she added. ​“They will pick the olives, take them to the mill, par­tic­i­pate in the pro­duc­tion and taste the extra vir­gin olive oil.”

Together with her hus­band, Leonardo Paolino, she runs the Frantoio del Monte Pisano mill and man­ages ancient ter­raced olive groves on the slopes of Mount Pisano. 

The orchards con­sist of typ­i­cal Tuscan vari­eties such as Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino, Pendolino and Maurino, which are used to pro­duce high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils, includ­ing the Tuscan Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.

“When we estab­lished the com­pany, we began reclaim­ing some of the aban­doned olive groves in the area,” Paolino said. ​“Another major project we’re work­ing on involves main­tain­ing and restor­ing the tra­di­tional ter­races that sup­port their cul­ti­va­tion. Our work is deeply inte­grated with the ter­ri­tory that we strive to enhance.”

“Tourists often ask to extend their stay at our agri­tourism facil­i­ties to take part in oleo­touris­tic activ­i­ties,” she added. ​“This ini­tia­tive clearly enhances the tourism poten­tial of areas like ours, which are entirely devoted to olive groves. We are excited to involve our guests in the upcom­ing har­vest.”

• Città dell’Olio