Green Gold

Sun, stone, drought, silence and solitude: these are the five ingredients that, according to Italian folk traditions, create the ideal habitat for the olive tree. We treasure extra virgin olive oil for its nutritional and salutary virtues. The extra virgin olive oil is the most digestible of the edible fats, it helps to assimilate vitamins A, D and K. It contains so-called essential acids that slows down the aging process helping vascular and intestinal functions.

The silvery green leaves of the olive grove are shining against the cold sky of early November. "All hands on deck!", family and friends gathered at Pornanino, are picking the precious fruit by hand, one olive tree after another, two by two, chatting away. When the basket hung transversally on the shoulder becomes too heavy, each one goes to throw the olives in a large basket. The orange and yellow net carefully lined under and all around the trees are stripped of their lovely, round, silky fruit from green to purple to dark shiny black. "Another shot, please!" cries Lisa Linder "Throw the net higher! Once again!" Franco kindly repeats the movement for the thirtieth time. "Now, walk downhill, I need the skyline, look further, serious please, do not smile!".

Lisa needs her story and she will not rest : at the end of the day she will have hundreds of photos carefully ranged in her bag. The cybernetic peasant, as Jonathan Futrell, who writes also for the Sunday Times, calls Franco Lombardi, has won the attention of the media. To retire in Chianti and take care of an estate of 39 hectares has been Lia and Franco Lombardi's choice. The result has been the Pornanino Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The idea was simple: the tradition in Chianti has always been to cultivate mainly the vineyards.Olive groves and oil are the "small brothers". Wine is the money maker. To be the only farmer in the area to produce only olive oil was a challenge and Franco accepted it. He shares his time between the land and the office, rapid contacts and quick decisions must be taken every day. The numerous guests of the charming agriturist accommodation, two country-villas facing the main-house, often sit around the table at the shade of the large oak tree just outside the kitchen door and sip a glass of wine, a slice of plain grilled Tuscan bread doused with Pornanino Extra Virgin Olive Oil in front of them. Join them : you won't be deceived. As a matter of fact you will not be able to do without this Greeen Gold!