Image 1 of 1
Less

CIPG_20181127_SAVEUR-LakeGarda_M3_8152.jpg

Add to Lightbox Download

RIVA DEL GARDA, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2018: Casaliva olives are seen here at Domus Olivae, a state-of-the-art olive mill, before being processed, in Riva del Garda, a northern town on the northern shore of Lake Garda, Italy, on November 27th 2018. Domus Olivae uses the latest technology in which olives crushed by stainless-steel grinders produce a paste that is then whirled in a centrifuge, yielding a clear oil that expresses the intense flavors of the fruit.

Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, is an odd micro-biome of Mediterranean olive-oil culture in the midst of frost-prone, butter-oriented Lombardy. Though its northern extreme is at the same latitude as Fargo, North Dakota, Garda’s shores are girded by lemon and palm trees, as well as olive orchards, which climb the hillsides that surround the lake to heights of 1,500 feet. Lake Garda, overlooked by the Dolomites, snowcapped in early winter, is the northernmost point in the world where olives can be reliably cultivated. Lake Garda, where there is a record of uninterrupted cultivation since the thirteenth century, has a reputation for producing delicate, mild-flavored oils that has pleased more conservative northern European palates since the Renaissance.
In contrast to Spain, France, and Greece, where a few star cultivars dominate production, Italy, with its multiplicity of soils and microclimates, has always been the Amazonian rainforest of olive biodiversity. Every year, the fruit from 179 million trees—three for every man, woman, and child in the nation—is gathered by 825,000 separate cultivators, to be pressed in 4,900 mills. At last count, there were 530 distinct olive varieties in Italy.

Copyright
©2018 Gianni Cipriano
Image Size
5473x3649 / 13.9MB
www.giannicipriano.com
Keywords
Contained in galleries
20181127_SAVEUR_Zadruga-Lake-Garda
RIVA DEL GARDA, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2018: Casaliva olives are seen here at Domus Olivae, a state-of-the-art olive mill, before being processed, in Riva del Garda, a northern town on the northern shore of Lake Garda, Italy, on November 27th 2018. Domus Olivae uses the latest technology in which olives crushed by stainless-steel grinders produce a paste that is then whirled in a centrifuge, yielding a clear oil that expresses the intense flavors of the fruit. <br /> <br /> Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, is an odd micro-biome of Mediterranean olive-oil culture in the midst of frost-prone, butter-oriented Lombardy. Though its northern extreme is at the same latitude as Fargo, North Dakota, Garda’s shores are girded by lemon and palm trees, as well as olive orchards, which climb the hillsides that surround the lake to heights of 1,500 feet. Lake Garda, overlooked by the Dolomites, snowcapped in early winter, is the northernmost point in the world where olives can be reliably cultivated. Lake Garda, where there is a record of uninterrupted cultivation since the thirteenth century, has a reputation for producing delicate, mild-flavored oils that has pleased more conservative northern European palates since the Renaissance.<br /> In contrast to Spain, France, and Greece, where a few star cultivars dominate production, Italy, with its multiplicity of soils and microclimates, has always been the Amazonian rainforest of olive biodiversity. Every year, the fruit from 179 million trees—three for every man, woman, and child in the nation—is gathered by 825,000 separate cultivators, to be pressed in 4,900 mills. At last count, there were 530 distinct olive varieties in Italy.