A family history long more than a hundred year
Francesco Cheri Vilia
Our “Once upon a time” dates back the end of 1800, when Francesco, our namesake, inherits the family land. This proud and serious man planted the first olive trees in our land unknowingly starting the beginning of our story today. For more than 150 years, those trees have provided for his family and his descendants. In Francesco’s time, harvesting was very labor intensive and was done completely by hand, they did not even use nets on the ground to collect the falling olives. The resulting olive oil was really priceless!
The family
In the picture, Francesco sits with his wife and two children. This family is a true love story as Francesco’s wife was the daughter of the sharecropper who he fell in love with. Francesco disobeyed his family who strongly opposed their marriage. In his days, this marriage of love was a truly revolutionary act and we like to believe that the roots of our family full of courage and love.
The abandoned land
We would like be able to continue the story to say that Francesco lived for many years and was able to see his land grow, but the truth is that he sadly died young. He left behind a young family who could not manage alone and Francesco’s olive trees were abandoned…
Salvatore and Gianni
In 1992, another Francesco – husband of Francesco Vilia’s daughter – and one of his sons Salvatore decided to breathe new life into the land and give the olive trees another chance. Using a sofisticated grafting system, they managed to revive the trees and started to produce olives again. This new grove has 150 olive trees covering a two hectares area of land.
Nowadays, brothers Salvatore and Gianni work to nurture their trees. They combine traditional methods and innovative modern techniques to make the highest quality product from olives that have been grown on our land for over 150 years. Their passion for these trees means that they do not work alone, their nieces and nephews have joined the family business to ensure a future for these olive trees.
