Mandranova Blends Hospitality and Olive Oil Craft in Southern Sicily
The family-run estate near Palma di Montechiaro pairs olive groves and almond orchards with 15 guest rooms and a private villa, offering visitors a closer look at how award-winning extra virgin olive oil is made.
Mandranova, a working farm in southern Sicily, is expanding its guest program as interest grows in hands-on farm stays that connect visitors to the people and practices behind high-quality extra virgin olive oil.
The family-run estate, located in the Palma di Montechiaro area of Agrigento, combines olive and almond production with hospitality. Giuseppe Di Vincenzo said the property spans about 180 hectares and hosts visitors in 15 rooms and a private villa set within the estate.
Two of the most popular experiences, Di Vincenzo said, are an olive oil tour and a cooking class. The tour introduces guests to olive oil production and includes a guided tasting. The cooking class focuses on Sicilian and family recipes, ranging from street food to more elaborate dishes.
The estate’s Mandranova Selezione has already earned a Gold Award at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. Selezione is a blend made from the best lots of the season’s harvest, selected to represent the farm’s top expression each year.
The Mandranova estate
The producer characterized the extra virgin olive oil as medium-intensity and fruity, with herbaceous notes alongside touches of tomato and lettuce. It shows a clear, lingering bitterness and a matching level of pungency, attributes often associated with phenolic-rich extra virgin olive oil.
In addition to tastings and cooking lessons, Di Vincenzo said Mandranova continues to invest in new activities for visitors. Recent additions include a Land Rover tour of the estate, with stops at scenic viewpoints, and a boat trip along the coast near Licata.
Cooking class at Mandranova
On the production side, Di Vincenzo said Mandranova grows Sicilian native cultivars using integrated agriculture techniques and polyconic vase pruning. Harvest typically runs from mid-September to mid-October and combines mechanical and semi-mechanical methods.
The olives are processed in a proprietary mill through mechanical cold extraction, Di Vincenzo said, with storage and bottling handled on-site. Many producers pursuing premium positioning have tightened harvest-to-mill logistics in recent years, a shift often cited as a key factor in preserving the freshness and flavor of extra virgin olive oil.
Giuseppe Di Vincenzo
Di Vincenzo said Mandranova sells both monovarietal oils — Nocellara, Biancolilla, Cerasuola, Giarraffa and Coratina — and blends, including Nuovo, Multicultivar and Selezione. The oils are generally described as medium to intensely fruity, with notable polyphenol content and green color.
Almonds are the estate’s other main crop. Di Vincenzo said the almond grove is part of a broader effort to support biodiversity and environmental sustainability, producing three Sicilian varieties: Tuono, Genco and Filippo Ceo. He described Tuono as sweet and aromatic, with a large, teardrop-shaped nut; Genco as a versatile, mid-sized almond widely used in baking; and Filippo Ceo as rounded with an intense, balanced flavor.
An olive oil tasting at Mandranova
The hospitality offering includes an on-site restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a swimming pool. For many visitors, Di Vincenzo said, the appeal lies in pairing the technical side of olive oil tasting with the broader rhythms of rural life, from walking through groves to seeing how milling works during harvest season.
Mandranova is located in Italy’s south, where producers have increasingly used agritourism to diversify revenue and communicate quality directly to consumers. By adding excursions and expanding its program of tours and classes, Di Vincenzo said the estate aims to deepen that connection between farm practices, local cuisine and the visitor experience.