[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” module_class=”fc-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Olive Oil in Our History” subhead=”Accompanying us for over 6,000 years” text_orientation=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.7″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” background_image=”https:\/\/paneolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/panolio-storia-olivo.jpg” module_alignment=”left” min_height=”550px” min_height_tablet=”” min_height_phone=”” min_height_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#F7F7F5″ background_image=”https:\/\/paneolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/background.jpg” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.7″ width=”67%” width_tablet=”” width_phone=”” width_last_edited=”on|desktop” module_alignment=”center” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”bottom” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Long before gracing our tables, olive oil traversed human history like few other products ever could. The earliest evidence of olive cultivation dates back more than 6,000 years to the eastern Mediterranean\u2014modern-day Syria, Israel, and Lebanon\u2014where early farming communities discovered that from the fruit of this tree, a precious liquid could be extracted: nourishing, healing, and luminous.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Storia” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#ffffff” background_position=”top_left” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ make_equal=”on” module_class=”fc-culumns-row” _builder_version=”4.27.7″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” min_height=”70vh” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ module_class=”fc_column_text_align” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ background_enable_image=”off” custom_padding=”4%|5%|4%|5%|true|true” custom_padding_tablet=”|0%||0%|false|true” custom_padding_phone=”|0%||0%|false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text module_class=”fc_row fc_text_box” _builder_version=”4.27.7″ custom_margin_phone=”||||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”off|desktop” custom_padding=”||||false|false” animation_style=”fade” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
In that era, olive oil was not yet\u2014or not merely\u2014a food. It was used as an ointment for the skin, as fuel for lamps, and as a medicinal remedy. So versatile was this product that it rapidly became a valued commodity of trade, and later a symbol: in Egypt, olive branches adorned the tombs of the pharaohs well before 1300 BCE; in biblical tradition, it is a dove bearing an olive twig that heralds to Noah the end of the flood, and ever since, the olive has endured across the Western world as the universal emblem of peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the Greeks who systematically spread olive cultivation throughout the Mediterranean basin. To them, olive oil was a gift from the gods\u2014legend holds that Athena herself bestowed it upon the city that would come to bear her name, Athens\u2014and a central fixture of daily life: athletes anointed their bodies with oil before competitions, and winners of the Olympic Games were crowned with wreaths of olive branches. In Italy, and within our Umbria in particular, the olive tree has found fertile ground ever since the Etruscan era. Today, our hills still shelter monumental trees that have stood through the centuries\u2014living witnesses to a heritage renewed with every harvest.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.7″ background_image=”https:\/\/paneolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/paneolio-corona-olivo.jpg” background_position=”center_right” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”50vh” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Storia” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#ffffff” background_position=”top_left” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ make_equal=”on” module_class=”fc-culumns-row” _builder_version=”4.27.7″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.7″ background_image=”https:\/\/paneolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/paneolio-olio-cotone.jpg” background_position=”bottom_center” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”50vh” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ module_class=”fc_column_text_align” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ background_enable_image=”off” custom_padding=”4%|5%|4%|5%|true|true” custom_padding_tablet=”|0%||0%|false|true” custom_padding_phone=”|0%||0%|false|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_css_main_element=”display: flex;||flex-direction: column;||justify-content: center;” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text module_class=”fc_row fc_text_box” _builder_version=”4.27.7″ custom_margin_phone=”||||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”off|desktop” custom_padding=”||||false|false” animation_style=”fade” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Yet the history of olive oil is not shaped solely by great civilizations and textbook chronicles; it is equally woven from humble folk traditions passed down through generations in our rural homes. In Italian\u2014and specifically Umbrian\u2014peasant culture, olive oil was for centuries far more than a condiment: a grandmother\u2019s remedy for chapped skin, an offering for rites of good fortune, and a centerpiece of folklore surrounding the protection of hearth and family\u2014such as the age-old practice, still widespread across many Italian regions today, combining oil and water in the traditional ritual against the evil eye (malocchio).<\/p>\n These stories illustrate just how deeply this product has always been woven into the fabric of daily life\u2014not merely a food, but an enduring piece of culture and identity.<\/p>\n Today, as we craft our extra virgin olive oil, we feel both the weight and the privilege of this millenary heritage: a fruit that has journeyed through dynasties, empires, and folk traditions, and which continues\u2014with ancient pressing now superseded by modern cold mechanical extraction technologies\u2014to grace our tables, keeping intact its true essence as pure olive juice.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Long before gracing our tables, olive oil traversed human history like few other products ever could. The earliest evidence of olive cultivation dates back more than 6,000 years to the eastern Mediterranean\u2014modern-day Syria, Israel, and Lebanon\u2014where early farming communities discovered that from the fruit of this tree, a precious liquid could be extracted: nourishing, healing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6048","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Later, the Romans carried the olive tree to every corner of their empire, refining cultivation and extraction techniques and elevating olive oil into a commodity so precious that it was even accepted as a form of tribute.<\/p>\n