Family's Love for Italian Cultivar Shapes Generations of Success

Summary

The Carroccia fam­ily in cen­tral Italy has a deep con­nec­tion to the Itrana olive cul­ti­var, focus­ing on qual­ity and expand­ing their groves near Campodimele. They pri­or­i­tize organic and bio­dy­namic farm­ing prac­tices, fac­ing chal­lenges from cli­mate change but con­tin­u­ing to pro­duce award-win­ning olive oil with a strong com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­ity.

A love for a famous Italian cul­ti­var has shaped the decades-long his­tory of a fam­ily in cen­tral Italy.

Carroccia Campodimele is sit­u­ated on the hills near Campodimele, approx­i­mately 130 kilo­me­ters south of Rome, on the edge of the Aurunci Mountains Natural Park. 

Approximately 3,700 Itrana olive trees are planted on ter­races bor­dered by dry stone walls. The cel­e­brated olive vari­ety is eas­ily iden­ti­fi­able across the region’s groves.

“We just received autho­riza­tion to rein­force and expand the dry walls. Now we can more eas­ily access about 90 per­cent of our groves,” Paolo De Filippis, an olive oil taster, co-owner, and man­ager of the fam­ily-run com­pany, told Olive Oil Times.

De Filippis and his cousin charted a new path for Carroccia Campodimele nearly 20 years ago, focus­ing on qual­ity and expand­ing from three to ten hectares.

Their pro­duc­ing expe­ri­ence pairs fam­ily his­tory with a unique fea­ture of the Campodimele vil­lage.

The small town with slightly more than 550 res­i­dents is known for its extra­or­di­nary demo­graphic trait: it is one of the longest-lived com­mu­ni­ties in Italy.

Often referred to as the ​“vil­lage of longevity,” Campodimele has been the focus of numer­ous sci­en­tific stud­ies exam­in­ing the high num­ber of cen­te­nar­i­ans within its small pop­u­la­tion.

Researchers have linked this longevity to a com­bi­na­tion of genet­ics, phys­i­cal activ­ity asso­ci­ated with rural life, low stress, and a tra­di­tional Mediterranean diet rich in veg­eta­bles, legumes, and olive oil.

For the Carroccia fam­ily, whose groves are sit­u­ated in the sur­round­ing area, this con­nec­tion between land, lifestyle, and health is woven into their iden­tity.

The extra vir­gin olive oil’s label fea­tures a top-view image of Campodimele, anchor­ing their oil to val­ues of well­ness and nat­ural liv­ing.

“Itrana is so spe­cial, and our par­ents knew that. They planted only that cul­ti­var so long ago,” De Filippis said. ​“Itrana can make a per­fect olive oil, with its unique and bal­anced aroma, but it’s also ideal as a table olive.”

Gaeta olives, a spe­cialty from south­ern Lazio, are grown on Itrana trees and carry a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, ensur­ing qual­ity and authen­tic­ity, as rec­og­nized by the European Union.

Itrana’s olive oil, on the other hand, rep­re­sents the cen­tral por­tion of the Colline Pontine olive oil, which is also a cel­e­brated PDO.

According to De Filippis, the whole fam­ily is involved in the far­m’s activ­i­ties, shar­ing a deep emo­tional bond with their land and the Itrana olive.

“We are in love with this cul­ti­var,” he said. ​“When you taste an Itrana-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil, the first thing you notice is its aroma, a very fra­grant olive oil that con­quers the palate and the soul.”

According to De Filippis, their olive oils have a high phe­no­lic con­tent, approach­ing 900 mil­ligrams per liter.

“It has a bal­anced pro­file, a notice­able but har­mo­nious bit­ter­ness, and an inter­est­ing spici­ness,” he explained, not­ing a resem­blance to the well-known Sicilian Tonda Iblea cul­ti­var.

The fam­ily har­vests early in the sea­son.

“We aim for qual­ity. During har­vest, you’ll only see elec­tric tools in the fields,” De Filippis high­lighted, refer­ring to con­cerns about con­t­a­m­i­na­tion from petrol engines.

“We love every­thing green. The farm has been organic from the start. We don’t even know what chem­i­cals are,” he said.

De Filippis explained that they avoid pes­ti­cides and pri­or­i­tize nat­ural treat­ments focused on sus­tain­abil­ity and soil health. For fer­til­iza­tion, he described a com­post­ing sys­tem using manure and olive prun­ing remains.

“We let it sit in a ded­i­cated spot for a year to mature, then apply it to the trees, in the shade of their canopy,” he said.

Though already cer­ti­fied organic, the Carroccia farm is now tran­si­tion­ing to bio­dy­namic farm­ing, part of a grow­ing trend across Italy.

The bio­dy­namic approach stems from the teach­ings of Rudolf Steiner, a con­tro­ver­sial social reformer and founder of anthro­pos­o­phy, which inte­grates spir­i­tual aware­ness into life, teach­ing and agri­cul­ture.

“You have to believe in it, really believe it men­tally. And you also have to accept lower yields and reduced prof­its. But it means pro­duc­ing bet­ter and more sus­tain­ably,” De Filippis said.

While the farm does not have its mill, De Filippis uses a local facil­ity ded­i­cated to a few organic pro­duc­ers. ​“If the goal is qual­ity, you can­not mix your olives with those of uncer­tain ori­gin,” he said.

Carroccia Campodimele’s qual­ity was con­firmed once again, with a Gold Award for its organic medium-inten­sity Itrana mono­va­ri­etal at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

For De Filippis, the company’s fourth NYIOOC acco­lade in as many years is more than a recog­ni­tion of qual­ity.

“First of all, it’s very reward­ing,” he said. ​“I’m the one who tastes our olive oils, and when the oil I selected wins a Gold Award, I’m very proud of our work.”

Still, these are chal­leng­ing times for olive grow­ers across the Mediterranean, includ­ing those in Lazio.

“We are liv­ing through cli­mate change. It’s fast, and we are all a bit unpre­pared for what’s hap­pen­ing,” he explained.

They are con­sid­er­ing irri­ga­tion, although the hilly ter­rain poses a chal­lenge.

“We’re work­ing on it, mon­i­tor­ing the trees day by day. The trees’ rest­ing period used to be longer, and that may affect pro­duc­tion,” he said, hint­ing at the increas­ingly short win­ters expe­ri­enced by Lazio grow­ers.

The farm relies on the rein­forced dry walls to improve soil and water reten­tion. It is also start­ing a col­lab­o­ra­tion with a local agron­o­mist to boost cli­mate resilience.

“Today, we just had a great fruit set, then came sud­den heat, stress­ing the trees. And then yes­ter­day we were hit by a hail­storm, with hail as big as wal­nuts,” De Filippis said.

“Producing qual­ity olive oil presents many chal­lenges, and they vary from farm to farm,” he added. ​“But the one chal­lenge we all face is cli­mate change. It demands inven­tive­ness and long-term invest­ment. We must be proac­tive.”