Many have noticed a shield prominently displayed on the bottle depicting a Greek warrior picking olives, all enclosed by a Greek frieze, and may have wondered why: I’ll explain right away. Reading Thucydides, a sentence struck me: “… when they learned to cultivate the vine and the olive tree, the people of the Mediterranean emerged from barbarism.” These words made me think a lot and brought me back to the origins of humanity: after having overcome the phase of “berry and fruit picker” to survive, man became a shepherd and, as such, nomad for practical reasons, as he had to follow the seasons and ideal temperatures to always find fresh pastures to feed his animals and, therefore, himself. When, however, he learned to cultivate the land, man tied himself to the land from which he drew sustenance, learning to love it and defend it. Planting trees and shrubs, then, meant not only tying yourself to the land, but also wanting to pass on something of value to your children and future generations, together with the cultural baggage of knowledge of knowing how to cultivate. And so, when I look at the Romanelle plants, introduced into my country by the Phocaean colonists, I almost seem to see these ancient exiles who, unable to bring anything else with them, brought those olive seedlings, necessarily with all the earth around the roots, as a reminder of those beloved places. I wanted, therefore, to depict that historical moment of the transition to peasant culture, with all the meanings of love for the land: that stubbornness with which you tie yourself to it, despite the daily adversities and difficulties, and the will to defend a unique and transmissible asset. The warrior still armed and also a farmer seemed to me an ideal image; if then the warrior is Greek, even better, because it takes you back to the most distant origins. I enjoyed having this bottle made, because it brings to mind an old container, with a long neck for practicality, a wide base for good stability, a dark color to protect the oil from light and with the right amount of volume, to avoid long consumption times, protecting it from oxidation. If you feel like tasting our exceptional oil, here you can find more information.
