Quercetano Olive

The Quercetano olive is a native variety of the municipality of Seravezza and, more specifically, of an area known as Querceta, from which it spread to neighboring municipalities over time.
Olive growing in Versilia, and in particular in the Piana Quercetana, has been of primary importance for millennia, both for the local economy and in shaping the landscape. In the Middle Ages, the Piana di Querceta, owing to the features of its landscape (it’s a plateau), did not suffer the same fate as other coastal areas of Versilia and avoided paludification, and to a large extent retained its traditional olive groves, which, at the time, were the subject of a dispute between Pisa and Lucca, who fought a fierce battle on the site. Versilia olive oil was very important to Pisa as a commodity in its trade with the Arabs and was even used with the value of currency.
The Quercetano olive is a vigorous tree with a characteristic erect trunk and young pendulous branches. The leaves are long, thin and shiny green in color. The olives are small, ovoid and slightly pointed. This variety has always been primarily used for producing oil. Its yield is not always consistent, with good years followed by poor years, but the quality of the oil is always excellent.
The oil has a clear or slightly hazy appearance and a golden olive green color. It has a delicate medium fruitiness, with a good balance between bitter and spicy and rich aromas of freshly cut grass and aromatic herbs.
The Quercetano olive, owing to its small size and poor flesh-to-stone ratio in comparison with other varieties, is attacked later by olive fruit flies and this therefore yields better quality at harvest time.

Season

The olives are harvested from October and the oil is sold from November.