Corriere della Sera DOVE
(Italy, March 23rd 2016)
Ritorno in Chianti: 20 (buoni) motivi per riscoprirlo
Non di solo vino… Considerato i fratellini minori dei vigneti, in Chianti gli uliveti non sostituiscono quasi mai i filari di vite ma, semplicemente, li accompagnano. Non succede così alla Fattoria Pornanino dove i quasi 40 ettari della tenuta sono interamente coltivati a Frantoio, Pendolino, Moraiolo e Leccino, senza uso di pesticidi o fertilizzanti chimici.
Fox news
(USA, June 30rd 2015)
Don't get burned: How to spot fraudulent olive oil
America's appetite for olive oil is on fire. Lauded for its taste and health benefits, U.S. demand for olive oil is up about 20 percent since a decade ago. In 2013, the U.S. imported about $1.1 billion worth of olive oil from around the world, with nearly half of that coming from Italy alone. So where better to learn about the oil than Tuscany. Italian olive oil producer Matteo Boggio Robutti and his wife Francesca are co-owners of Azienda Agricola Pornanino, an olive oil farm in the Chianti region of Tuscany. In an area known more for their wine, Robutti’s operation includes 4,000 olive trees and welcomes the public to his property to learn more about olive oil.
WTTW Chicago Public Media
(USA, May 16th 2015)
Dream of Italy
With its mesmerizing landscapes, rich artistic treasures, deep ties to the past and warm people, it is no wonder that Americans Dream of Italy more than any other destination in the world. Join Italian travel expert Kathy McCabe, editor of the award-winning travel newsletter Dream of Italy, as she explores six diverse areas of Italy in six episodes. Meet Italy's colorful locals - chefs, artisans, historians - who are deeply connected to their land, carrying on and preserving the traditions of their ancestors. Dream of Italy is directed by Dakkan Abbe who created the public television series, Inside the Tuscan Hills.
The Voice-Tribune
(USA, January 2nd 2014)
Olive Oil Party
Culinary enthusiasts received a special holiday treat as Debra and Terry Hart held a tasting party for a brand-new custom-made olive oil at the home of Keith and Lisa Morley Dec. 19. The Lombardi family estate at Azienda Agricola Pornanino, producer of the olive oil, has approximately 4,000 olive trees in the Chianti area of Tuscany. Franco Lombardi's son-in-law Matteo Boggio Robutti has recently taken over the family's production operation and, with his wife Francesca, maintain a mostly American customer base for their special olive oil.
Zester Daily
(USA, July 22th 2010)
Slow-Made Olive Oil
Talk about slow food. Sometimes it sneaks up on you and doesn't let go. That's what happened to Franco Lombardi, the retired civil engineer who'd worked building steel bridges in many of the world's hot spots -- "anywhere there was a war" -- and moved 28 times. He bought Pornanino, a rundown farm property in Chianti in the Tuscan hills, one of Italy's most sought-after and beautiful areas. There, employing the slow, patient method that Italians have used for centuries, they produce top-quality extra virgin olive oil from their own olive groves.
The Gazette
(USA, February 28th 2007)
Best olive oils are often hard to get, but Springs foodies soon have a chance. Last summer, the Colorado Springs cooking teacher took a culinary trip to Tuscany, met olive oil producer Lombardi, tasted the oil pressed from the olives grown on his land and began passionately spreading the word about his product.
Rockford Register Star
(USA, February 11th 2005)
In a valley believed to produce the best olive oil in the world about five miles south of Radda in Chianti, lives the Lombardi family on their farm Pornanino, where they host year round tourists in two beautiful restored stone barns. Franco Lombardi insists the finest extra virgin olive oils are those that have had the least contact with man or machine.
Reformatorisch Dagblad
(The Netherlands, January 8th 1999)
Wat er schuilgaat in Toscane
De zon heeft het hoofd van Franco Lombardi meer dan gemiddeld gebruind. Aan een marmeren tafel,in de schaduw van het huis, vertelt de zestiger ondersteund door langzame gebaren over Toscane, zijn druiven en olijven zijn cypressen en kastelen, zijn stil- le stadjes en gezonde keuken.
The Sunday Times
(England, September 20th 1998)
In Tuscany for the olive harvest, JONATHAN FUTRELL finds himself led down a culinary trail, tracing the finest virgin oil in its progress from branch to table The only picking I like to do on holiday is sand, from between my toes, on a beach. In fact, whenever I come across handwritten signs, always on scrappy bits of cardboard, by the roadside, proclaiming "pick-your-own", I instinctively want to turn off and shake some sense into the scores of unpaid pickers bent double in the field. If God had intended us to spend our leisure time on our hands and knees, he would not have invented farmers.
Waitrose Food Illustrated
(USA, September 8th 1998)
Franco Lombardi is obsessed with purity. For him, the finest extra virgin olive oils are those that have had the least contact with man or machine. "We don't use tractors to harvest the olives because we might break some of the branches," says Franco. After talking with Franco, you get the impression that in his ideal world he would like to be able to turn olives into olive oil by magic, without them ever coming into contact with a human.