PDO and PGI Producers Celebrated at Ercole Olivario

Lazio, Sardinia and Sicily were the most awarded regions, with three prizes each, followed by Campania, Puglia and Tuscany, with one prize each.
Winners of the 2023 Ercole Olivario
By Ylenia Granitto
Mar. 28, 2023 13:55 UTC

The win­ners of the 31st Ercole Olivario were announced ear­lier this month in the Sala dei Notari of the Palazzo dei Priori, a land­mark of Perugia, the Umbrian cap­i­tal.

Organized by the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture, the national com­pe­ti­tion ded­i­cated to the best Italian extra vir­gin olive oils handed out 12 awards, half of which went to Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGI)-certified pro­duc­ers.

Lazio, Sardinia and Sicily were the most awarded regions, with three prizes each, fol­lowed by Campania, Puglia and Tuscany, with one prize each.

See Also:World Olive Oil Competition 2023 Live Updates

Additionally, seven spe­cial awards were handed out to a larger group of pro­duc­ers who excelled in organic and mono­va­ri­etal pro­duc­tion and busi­ness areas such as pack­ag­ing, dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, female and young entre­pre­neur­ship and oleo­tourism.

The spe­cial men­tion for the organic extra vir­gin olive oils went to U’ Ciuri PGI Sicily, pro­duced by Miceli & Sensat.

It is a great sat­is­fac­tion to have achieved such recog­ni­tion from as pres­ti­gious an insti­tu­tion as the Chamber of Commerce,” Paolo Miceli told Olive Oil Times. We obtained this oil from the fruits of our organic Nocellara del Belice plants, which thrive in a won­der­ful, pris­tine val­ley near the vil­lage of Roccamena, which is home to our farm.”

A day ear­lier, the orga­niz­ers opened the prize-giv­ing by announc­ing win­ners of the sec­ond edi­tion of La Goccia d’Ercole (Ercole’s Drop) ded­i­cated to small-scale pro­duc­ers. Sicily and Puglia were the most rewarded regions, with two awards each, fol­lowed by Campania and Tuscany.

Ercole Olivario is a pact that we have made with the olive oil world to enhance this extra­or­di­nary prod­uct,” said Giorgio Mencaroni, pres­i­dent of the Umbrian Chamber of Commerce, dur­ing the event.

He high­lighted the impor­tance assumed over time by this com­pe­ti­tion as a tool for pro­mot­ing the high-qual­ity Italian extra vir­gin olive oil sec­tor and an incen­tive for pro­duc­ers to improve their pro­duc­tion processes.

Proof of this is that every year the judges rec­og­nize the increas­ingly higher qual­ity of the entries,” he said.

The clos­ing cer­e­mony in Perugia was the cul­mi­na­tion of a series of steps that started weeks before with the tast­ing ses­sions of the regional pan­els.

Among these is the team of pro­fes­sional tasters of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome, who selected the win­ners of the Premio Roma Evo, pre­vi­ously called Orii del Lazio, at its 30th edi­tion.

The anniver­sary was cel­e­brated on March 11th in the sug­ges­tive set­ting of the Vibia Sabina and Hadrian’s Temple of Rome, where the orga­niz­ers unveiled the brands from Lazio that would par­tic­i­pate in the national com­pe­ti­tion.

It feels great to receive recog­ni­tion of our pro­fes­sion­al­ism with this award earned thanks to our two flag­ship extra vir­gin olive oils, the PGI Roma, made up of Salviana and Carboncella, and the Sabina PDO, a blend of Salviana, Carboncella and Frantoio,” said Alessandro Donati of Frantoio Narducci, in Moricone, after receiv­ing a men­tion of merit for young entre­pre­neurs.

Despite the sum­mer drought, the weather con­di­tions got bet­ter with the approach of the har­vest, which helped us to obtain a good yield and excel­lent prod­ucts,” he added.

A com­plete list of the 2023 win­ners may be found on the Ercole Olivario web­site and social media pages.


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