Why Puglia Is Italy's Olive Oil Heartland

Puglia, the heel of Italy's boot, produces more olive oil than any other Italian region. Its mild climate, long dry summers and limestone soils suit olive trees perfectly, and they've been cultivated there for thousands of years.

A landscape of olive trees

Drive through Puglia and the olive groves seem endless. The region is home to tens of millions of olive trees. Many are centuries old, and some ancient trees are protected as living monuments, with trunks twisted into extraordinary shapes.

Why olives thrive here

• Climate: hot, dry summers and mild winters, with sea breezes from the Adriatic and Ionian coasts
• Soil: well-drained limestone and red clay that olive trees love
• Tradition: skills passed down through generations of farming families and local mills

Puglia's key olive varieties

• Coratina: from the area around Bari. Bold, bitter and peppery, and known for being rich in polyphenols.
• Ogliarola: softer and fruitier, common in the north and the Salento.
• Peranzana: from the north of the region, delicate and aromatic.
• Cellina di Nardò: a traditional variety of the Salento.

Challenges in the south

Since 2013, the plant disease Xylella fastidiosa has devastated many groves in the Salento, Puglia's southern tip. Farmers are replanting with resistant varieties, and the groves of central and northern Puglia remain the heart of production.

Our corner of Puglia

We're rooted in Gravina in Puglia, on the edge of the Murgia plateau near the border with Basilicata. Our oil comes from a single estate in these hills. It's Coratina-led, cold pressed, unfiltered and bottled at source. See its lab results or shop the oil.