Frantoio Romano

In 1959 the Romano brothers took over the first olive mill in Bronte, on the western slope of Mount Etna. More than sixty years later the mill is run by the third generation of the family, and the idea has not changed: select the best olives from the volcano's slopes and the Simeto Valley, and follow every step from pressing to bottling in Bronte.

The groves sit between 500 and 900 meters above sea level, many of them on old lava flows and alongside Bronte's famous pistachio trees. Farming here is deliberately light-handed: no plowing, no irrigation, just pruning and natural fertilization.

The star is Nocellara Etnea, a native Etna variety rich in polyphenols. It gives an oil with a fresh, grassy nose, a clean bitterness and a peppery finish. Pasquale Romano has worked with it all his life, and in 2014 his oil won the Sol d'Oro, one of Italy's most respected olive oil awards.