In Molise, Olive Tree Adoption Supports Health Research

Nestled on the rolling hills of Agnone, a pic­turesque vil­lage in the cen­tral-south­ern Italian region of Molise, Uliveto Gianna (Gianna olive grove) offers vis­i­tors the oppor­tu­nity to adopt an olive tree while sup­port­ing health research.

“This project was born when I decided to plant a num­ber of olive trees cor­re­spond­ing to the years I spent with my wife Gianna since we got engaged,” Orazio Ferrelli told Olive Oil Times. ​“She had recently passed away, and I wanted to do some­thing mean­ing­ful to pay homage to her.”

With the help of his brother Antonio, Ferrelli planted 26 young olive seedlings in an uncul­ti­vated plot of land belong­ing to their fam­ily, and he put them up for adop­tion.

“I wanted to allow peo­ple, espe­cially those who do not live in the coun­try­side, to adopt these plants and enjoy them when­ever they want,” Ferrelli said. ​“In exchange, I would ask for some­thing very valu­able: a dona­tion to health research.”

A con­tri­bu­tion of any amount sup­port­ing an asso­ci­a­tion or orga­ni­za­tion focused on med­ical research is the price of adopt­ing a young olive tree in the orchard.

“I do not need the dona­tion receipt, as I am a ​‘moun­tain man’ and I take people’s word for it,” Ferrelli said.

He spec­i­fied that the aspir­ing adopters can con­tact Uliveto Gianna on Instagram to com­mu­ni­cate their dona­tion and the asso­ci­a­tion they choose to sup­port. They are then invited to visit the orchard and leave a mes­sage, which will be writ­ten on a sign near their olive tree.

Launched as a small ini­tia­tive for friends and col­leagues, it has gen­er­ated buzz and inter­est in the local com­mu­nity and from media out­lets. Impressed by the suc­cess of his project, Ferrelli is receiv­ing adop­tion requests from all over Italy and other coun­tries, includ­ing the United Kingdom and Germany.

This prompted him to add more olive trees – 70 were recently planted, and 100 more will be planted in the com­ing months. Depending on the num­ber of new adop­tion requests, a fur­ther plot might be added to the plan. The trees are sup­posed to start pro­duc­ing fruit in four or five years.

“Now I can say that the extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duced will be used by our fam­ily and as a gift,” Ferrelli said. ​“At the moment, I can­not afford to hire peo­ple to bot­tle the olive oil. In any case, this ini­tia­tive will never have com­mer­cial pur­poses, and it must remain non-profit, with the only goal of sup­port­ing health research and pro­mot­ing pre­ven­tion.”

“Indeed, I could plant other types of fruit trees, but I opted for the olive tree for what it rep­re­sents for all the peo­ples,” he added. ​“In all cul­tures, it sym­bol­izes impor­tant val­ues that I want to com­mu­ni­cate with this project, like peace, eter­nal love, friend­ship and rebirth.”

Last October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a pink bench was placed in a panoramic area of the olive grove as a reminder of the impor­tance of pre­ven­tion. It will be the arrival point of a walk that Ferrelli is plan­ning to orga­nize next year as a fur­ther way to raise aware­ness and sup­port research.

“I can go on with this project thanks to my two daugh­ters, who have sup­ported me ever since I con­ceived it,” he said. ​“However, I must say that I couldn’t have done any of this with­out the fun­da­men­tal help of my brother, who takes care of the orchard at a prac­ti­cal level all year around. This land belonged to our par­ents, who made many sac­ri­fices for us, and this is also a way to thank them.”

The strong bond to his land includes safe­guard­ing the envi­ron­ment and bio­di­ver­sity while pre­serv­ing nat­ural resources.

Gianna olive grove is made up of trees belong­ing to autochtho­nous vari­eties, includ­ing Bella di Montagna and Sperone di Gallo, and oth­ers that are wide­spread in the whole of cen­tral Italy, such as Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino Olivastro and Leccio del Corno.

The trees are sus­tain­ably man­aged, fer­til­ized with organic prod­ucts and, in the warmest months, watered through a rain­wa­ter col­lec­tion sys­tem.

“The signs indi­cat­ing the adop­tions beside the olive trees tell many dif­fer­ent sto­ries, which include more or less happy moments, all marked by love,” Ferrelli said. ​“The beau­ti­ful thing we are doing here with all the peo­ple that adopt the olive trees is being proac­tive and com­mit­ted, doing some­thing good to improve the world.”

“Despite the dif­fi­cult times we faced, we did not give up, and we decided to move for­ward together, look­ing ahead at a future with the col­ors of the rain­bow,” he con­cluded.

• Rai News