`Lungarotti: Preserving Olive Oil Heritage - Olive Oil Times
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी

Lungarotti: Preserving Olive Oil Heritage

By Luciana Squadrilli
Aug. 31, 2011 13:58 UTC

Set in the very cen­ter of Italy, Umbria is one of the few Italian regions that do not look over the sea. Its land is made by gen­tly sloped hills, lakes and springs, ancient vil­lages full of his­tory, art and spir­i­tual appeal (here is Assisi, where St. Francis was born, with its won­der­ful basil­ica).

And fla­vors, too. Some of the best Italian salami come from Norcia, a small Umbrian vil­lage that gave the name to the spe­cial­ized butch­ers (norcini), its woods are rich of pre­cious truf­fles, its wines are very well known. And then there are the olive trees. So many olive trees: they cover a huge part of the Umbrian land, con­tribut­ing to the region’s label of ​“Italy’s green heart.”

The whole region holds a unique PDO for extra vir­gin olive oil, Umbria, within five sub-zones: Colli del Trasimeno, Colli Amerini, Colli Martani, Colli Assisi-Spoleto, Colli Orvietani. The lead role here is played by the intense Moraiolo cul­ti­var, with its bit­ter fla­vor and full aroma. Other vari­eties like Frantoio and Leccino fea­ture as high level co-star to smooth the extra vir­gin oil char­ac­ter, as well as the typ­i­cal, gen­tly sweet San Felice, that only grows in a restricted area.

Olive oil and wine here always had a major eco­nomic and cul­tural role, but tech­ni­cal progress has deeply changed the rural world that once flour­ished on them. To pre­serve this her­itage, the Lungarotti fam­ily cre­ated two muse­ums in the ancient vil­lage of Torgiano.

A sym­bol of Umbrian wine since the ​‘60s, when Giorgio Lungarotti founded it, it is still a fam­ily-run busi­ness, deeply linked to the land where it stands. Chiara Lungarotti and Teresa Severini lead the com­pany today. Their mother Maria Grazia, Giorgio’s wife, is in charge of the Lungarotti Foundation, born in 1987 to pro­mote the Italian rural econ­omy and cul­ture.

An expert in muse­ol­ogy and an Art lover, Maria Grazia is to thank for estab­lish­ing the Museum of Wine, in 1974, and the Museum of Olive and Olive Oil in 2000. They are a charm­ing way to learn more about the his­tory of these two prod­ucts, dat­ing back to the very begin­ning of the Mediterranean cul­ture, with a spe­cial focus on Umbria.

Guided by the pas­sion­ate Gianluca – he could talk for hours about every small object dis­played – we dis­cover how rural Umbrian life was like in the past decades and how it has changed, along with an exhaus­tive exhi­bi­tion of tools, hand­craft and art­works from dif­fer­ent ori­gins and ages.

The Museum of Olive and Olive Oil stands where an ancient olive press used to oper­ate. Walking along the ten rooms, Gianluca takes us in a fas­ci­nat­ing jour­ney through the olive oil world: from the phy­to­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics of the most wide­spread vari­eties in Umbria and the meth­ods for cul­ti­va­tion to its pres­ence in daily life through­out the cen­turies and its uses in med­i­cine, sports and cos­met­ics.

Among the most pre­cious exhibits, a large col­lec­tion of oil lamps and the aston­ish­ing Attic alabas­tron by the Foundry Painter (5th cen­tury BC), which cel­e­brates Athens foun­da­tion myth: the Goddess Athena gave birth from the ground with her spear to an olive tree rep­re­sent­ing pru­dence, seren­ity, peace — that is to say civ­i­liza­tion.

While in Torgiano, you can’t miss a visit to the Lungarotti mas­sive cel­lars, to taste the excel­lent wines and the two extra vir­gin olive oils: the intensely herbal Dop Umbria- Colli Martani and the more del­i­cate – yet tasty and nicely pun­gent – Il Cantico, named after the famous Laudes Creaturarum by St. Francis. Both are made by Moraiolo, Frantoio and Leccino olives, they only dif­fer from the har­vest­ing times.

Afterwards, you can rest in the beau­ti­ful Poggio alle Vigne coun­try house, fac­ing the green Brufa’s hill where olive trees and vine­yards grow, or in the lux­u­ri­ous resort Le Tre Vaselle within the medieval walls of Torgiano: here you will find com­fort­able rooms, a Spa with wine-based care treat­ments, an ele­gant restau­rant with an exquis­ite cui­sine based on local prod­ucts and – if you fancy a full immer­sion in the Italian and Umbrian food cul­ture – the new Food and Art Experience in part­ner­ship with Alma, the world-renowned cook­ing school.

More articles on:  , ,

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles