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For the sec­ond year, in the ancient Roman forum, Lucca hosted Extra Lucca Summer Edition, a spin­off of Extra Lucca, the annual event ded­i­cated to high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils.

Since July 1, every day until the sun goes down, 24 Italian man­u­fac­tur­ers have exhib­ited the qual­ity and vari­ety of cul­ti­vars through­out Italy, from Casaliva to Frantoio, from Rotondella cam­pana to Gentile di Chieti, from Coratina to Ottobratica, while 12 experts of the Maestrod’olio Academy intro­duced audi­ences, novices and experts, to olive oil tast­ing with two daily pre­sen­ta­tions in Italian and English.

“We want to empha­size the true and gen­uine qual­ity EVOOs rewarded with the Crowns of Maestrod’olio in our guide Terred’Olio 2016, in com­bi­na­tion with some typ­i­cal excel­lences of the region,” said Fausto Borella, pres­i­dent of the Maestrod’olio Academy and cre­ator of the event.

“Many coun­try­men and for­eign tourists still fail to rec­og­nize the dif­fer­ence between a faulty olive oil, that will inevitably wreck food, and a great extra vir­gin olive oil, which is ben­e­fi­cial to health and fun­da­men­tal to exalt the good cui­sine.”

The Maestrod’olio Academy’s mis­sion is to reveal the count­less ben­e­fits of high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils. With that aim, they har­nessed the local agri-food indus­try that joined the event: the Cremeria Opera, with its EVOO ice cream, the Marovelli cheese fac­tory from San Romano Garfagnana, and La Dispensa di Caino, a two-Michelin-starred restau­rant from Montemerano; wines and rosé sparkling wines; beer by the craft brew­ery Birroir, and the offi­cial water Acqua Silva.

In line with pro­mot­ing healthy habits, a fit­ness area was ded­i­cated to gym classes, while Giacomo Puccini’s notes resound through the vaults of the gallery thanks to the Association Puccini chaired by the Maestro Andrea Colombini.

“The event, after three weeks, gave me great sat­is­fac­tion,” said Fausto Borella. ​“It is price­less to see the expres­sion on the faces of hun­dreds of tourists arrived in the city, after the tast­ing of excel­lent extra vir­gin olive oils present at ExtraLucca Summer Edition. About 5,000 men, women, and chil­dren have been pleas­antly sur­prised by great aro­mas and fla­vors. And in a few days, I will have added a new piece to the mosaic that is my mis­sion: to com­mu­ni­cate qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil.”