Frantoio Cavalli

The story begins in the 18th century with Francesco Cavalli, a man from Modena sent to Ripi, south of Rome, as an official of the Papal State. He bought land, started a family and in 1781 installed a mill and an olive press, making flour and oil for his family and the village. It has never stopped since, which makes Frantoio Cavalli one of the oldest olive mills still working in the world.

For six generations a donkey turned the stone millstone. Grandfather Augusto brought electricity to the mill, then came continuous milling and cold extraction, and today a state-of-the-art plant. Eleven generations later, the craft is still passed from father to son.

The olives come from the hills of Ciociaria. They are crushed gently, without heating the paste, and kneaded in sealed malaxers at a temperature set for each variety and harvest. The oils are left unfiltered, like Atena, a delicate single-cultivar Peranzana with notes of tomato and radish, in a bottle inspired by the ancient Mediterranean amphora.