Mythic Olive Oil from the Colosseum
Olive tree and gates to the Colosseum photo credit Simona Murrone
According to Greek mythology, the god Poseidon and the goddess Athena competed for dominion in the Attica region. Zeus, the King of the Gods, decided that whoever gave the most dear gift to the citizens would win. With a blow of his trident, Poseidon made a sea pool appear, representing control over the sea, and a white horse, a symbol of strength and dominance in wars. Athena, instead, struck the earth with a spear and gave birth to an olive tree, a symbol of peace, wisdom, and fertility. The Greek people chose the gift of Athena, who became the protector goddess of the eponymous city. Later on, the Romans adopted the myth and the worship, only changing the name to Minerva, the goddess of justice, law, victory, and wisdom.
The Roman emperor Domitian, especially, was a passionate devotee and ordered a small temple dedicated to Minerva to be built on top of a small hill near his majestic Palazzo, built atop the Palatine Hill, not too far from where the grandiose Colosseum had been recently erected. Three olive trees were planted close to the temple to pay homage to the goddess. Thus, the olive tree became one of the plants sacred to Romans, along with the vine – as much relevant as the olive, both from a religious and commercial point of view – and the fig tree under which, according to the myth, the basket with the divine twin brothers Remus and Romulus (who would eventually found the city of Rome becoming its first King) was anchored.
The long history of a farming Capital
Harvesting olives at the Colosseum photo credit Simona Murrone
This ancient myth foreshadows and frames Rome's well-established and still-existing agricultural character. This modern and roaring capital city is also the largest agricultural municipality in Europe, boasting a notable quantity and quality production, and the city's ancient center was no exception. “Romans planted here symbolic olive trees and vineyards, while after the Empire decadence, the Palatine Hill became a farming area," Gabriella Strano recalls, even before the powerful Cardinal Alessandro Farnese established the well-known Horti Farnesiani, the first private botanical gardens in Europe, in the XVI century. When he died, his dream of a place suspended in time, created to honor the long-gone imperial legacy and celebrate beauty, declined, and it went back to its farming roots. “Ancient cartography shows how the whole hill is divided into plots of lands bought by noble families, hosted orchards, and fields. In particular, the Barberini Vineyards hosted vines, olive trees, and fruit orchards.”
Restoring the Olive Trees in the Colosseum Archeological Park
Olive grove with Colosseum in the distance photo credit Simona Murrone
An experienced landscape architect passionate about history, Strano is appointed to manage the Garden Service at ParCo, the Colosseum Archeological Park committed to the “protection, conservation, research and valorization of its archaeological, monumental and landscape heritage." Yet, she went beyond taking care of and valorizing the sprawling green areas in the Park, encompassing over 40 hectares overall, and implementing an eco-sustainable restoration of the ancient gardens. She also proposed to bring them back to their fruitful origins, recovering the existing vineyards of Vigna Barberini and a few olive trees and planting new ones to restore the producing tradition of the Palatine Hill and revive the deep value these plants and products held in Ancient Rome. Today, thanks to collaboration with local cooperatives and associations, this unique place is spawning wine and olive oil again. "The park became a proper farm, where we produce wine, extra virgin olive oil, and honey," Strano proudly explains. "Yet, the project was mainly born to highlight the noble Roman ethic, which considered agriculture the most virtuous activity for a citizen."
A legendary olive grove and olive oil
The Colosseum olive oil photo credit Simona Murrone
189 differently aged olive trees grow in the area, tracing a themed itinerary along the Archeological Park, indicated by the dedicated signs (also in English). “Some of them, such as the ones growing near the Titus Arch, are century-old trees. Some others were planted in the Sixties along the Clivus Palatinus, an ancient processional route connecting the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. More olive trees grow near the magnificent Livia’s house (which probably belonged to Emperor Augustus’ wife, editor’s note). While we planted other ones over the last ten years”, Strano recalls. “In 2014, for example, we planted a few young trees in a very special place, near the upper area of the Domus Augustana, part of the ancient Domitian's palace. Lightning had struck and destroyed an old tree growing right on the hill where Minerva's temple stood. So, we planted three olive trees near a dry fountain.”
All the trees in the grove still bore fruit, and it seemed a shame not to honor their yield. “In the past, the ripe olives simply fell on the ground, and it was very hard to keep the paths clean; or, they were collected by small farms, keeping the crop to themselves. Harvesting the olives seemed to me more reasonable and ethical so as not to waste them.”
About 4 years ago, Strano succeeded in convincing Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Park, and since then, they are partnering with the regional branch of Coldiretti (Italy’s main agricultural organization) to maintain the olive-themed itinerary, organize guided tours and obtain a rare, precious product, extra virgin olive oil.
Coldiretti and Unaprol (the largest Italian olive growers' association) take care of the autumn harvest, usually carried out in the early morning before the gates of the Parks open to visitors, and brings the hand-picked olives to a regional cooperative milling plant, OP Latium, which transforms them into the Palatinum Olio di Roma Pgi extra virgin olive oil. The limited production is bottled with a label evoking a mosaic from the Casa dei Grifi, an ancient Roman house on Palatine Hill, making a precious institutional gift and a formidable opportunity for educational tastings.
"Most of the olive trees are leccinon, and we carried on scientific research to determine which other varieties are growing here, especially for the older trees," Stefano Pasquazi explains, indicating frantoio, itrana, and rosciola – the latter two being local varieties from Lazio region – among the identified ones. Pasquazi, an olive oil expert, is Coldiretti's representative for this unique project and the “operational arm” appointed to promote the Colosseum grove. "The extra virgin olive oil we obtain is a blend that fully reflects the features of the local Pgi, with freshly cut grass and artichoke scents. We trace the whole supply chain, starting from the registered parcels. This product has outstanding symbolic value, which helps us affirm that olive growing is strongly placed in our millenary history. And that it also means protecting and safeguarding our land, landscape, and cultural heritage, which has a powerful symbol in the Palatine hill,” Pasquazi says. And, for sure, this is also a powerful symbolic asset for Italian extra virgin olive oil.
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