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SINCE 1919, A point of REFERENCE FOR OLIVE GROWING IN LIMONE SUL GARDA (BS)

The story of the Cooperativa Agricola Possidenti Oliveti of Limone sul Garda (BS) starts in the twentieth century.
At the end of the First World War, the limonese olive cultivation made a qualitative leap: on November 29, 1919, twenty-eight small owners, led by the parish priest Don Giovanni Morandi, incorporated a limited company called "Cooperative Among the Owners of Olive Groves", in order to mill olives at a single social mill.
On December 4, 1925, the Cooperative bought the building in via Campaldo (formerly known as the district of Lupo). It was previously used as a paper mill and the cooperative decided to use it as an oil mill.
In order to power the turbine that moved the mills, they built a channel from the stream San Giovanni. This is still partially in existance today.
Since then, our oil mill's production structure is constantly updated, while keeping intact the traditional characteristics of cold working with stone mills.
The production, supported by about 450 small shareholders, is now maintained on niche levels in order to continue producing a superior quality extra virgin olive oil that has obtained the mark of excellence, d.o.p. (protected designation of origin).

November 11: The olive harvest begins

The secret to olive growing is in a series of particular details: you have to plow and hoe the soil, fertilise and prune every two years, keep the soil free from weeds, and irrigate when the heat is insistent. Then, in mid-autumn you can pick  the olives if the year has been favourable.
The harvest begins in early November, so much so that an ancient Limoneese proverb still says: "At San Martì s'endrìsa n pé le scalì".
In fact, the local tradition of olive growing holds that on November 11 (the day of San Martino), you prepare and straighten the rung: the typical staircase used to reach even the tallest crowns, made of a single rod, with a long series of pegs placed about 30 cm from each other.

From Respect of Tradition, an Oil of Excellence is Born

The rung, used for the olive collection, is first put into the ground. Then, it is fixed with a rope to a branch. At the same time, sheets are laid on the ground. These sheets will collect the olives dropped from the trees and the worker's hands).
All our work is still carried out entirely by hand precisely because of the morphology of our land, which has narrow and continuous terraced shelves. What's more, the olive trees are remarkably tall.
The farmer holds the branch with one hand and pulls the drupes with the other. It pulls the drupes towards himself and places them in the "grumiàl" (typical recipient usually made of animal skin tied to the farmer's waist).
Olives are harvested in boxes and taken to the mill at the end of the day.
From each plant we collect aproximately from 10 - 80kg of olives. The oil yield varies from 15 - 25% of the olives' weight.
It is long, meticulous and passionate work. For this reason ,we can say that for the Cooperativa Agricola of Limone sul Garda olive growing is really art, love, and the reason for living. 
To visit our oil museum, come see us in Limone (BS) in via Campaldo 10
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