`Umbrian Mills Open their Doors - Olive Oil Times
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enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी

Umbrian Mills Open their Doors

By Luciana Squadrilli
Oct. 21, 2014 11:06 UTC
Emilio Bartolini

Right in the cen­ter of Italy, with no coast­line or view to the sea, Umbria is also known as Italy’s ​“green heart” due to the many olive trees that grow on its hills and slopes.

Many of the best Italian extra vir­gin olive oils orig­i­nate here, in one of the five sub­ar­eas of the Umbria Pdo: Colli Amerini, Colli Orvietani, Colli Martani, Colli del Trasimeno and Colli Assisi-Spoleto. This is not a huge area, but very rich indeed in his­tory, art and nature.

Here one can find old and pic­turesque vil­lages such as Spello or Trevi, artis­tic and reli­gious cen­ters such as Todi and Assisi and beau­ti­ful lakes sur­rounded by vine­yards and olive groves.

Moraiolo is the main cul­ti­var, asso­ci­ated with Frantoio and Leccino or with lesser, local vari­eties such as Dolce Agogia and San Felice. Wine and oil con­sti­tute major ele­ments Umbria’s econ­omy along with tourism, and the three often go together.

Olive oil-related tourism in Umbria is prob­a­bly more devel­oped and bet­ter orga­nized than in some other parts of Italy, and the annual event Frantoi Aperti, or ​“open mills,” is good evi­dence of that, as well as the Strada dell’Olio dell’Umbria (Umbria’s olive Oil road) orga­ni­za­tion.

This year again, from 1 to 30 November, the region’s main mills will open their doors to the pub­lic to greet tourists, cos­tumers and olive oil enthu­si­asts. This will be the 17th edi­tion of the ini­tia­tive, orga­nized by the moun­tain com­mu­nity of Monti Martani Serano and Subasio in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Strada dell’Olio.

The aim is to pro­mote local extra vir­gin olive oils and the region’s rural des­ti­na­tions. The 35 mills will host guided tours and tast­ings, but other venues will host events related to the olive oil theme: olive groves, coun­try houses, his­toric vil­lages and their beau­ti­ful squares, the­aters and trat­to­rias will all be involved in this local rural cel­e­bra­tion.

The pro­gram is very rich, and con­stantly grow­ing: those who will visit Umbria in November will have the chance to take advan­tage of free guided tours of the par­tic­i­pant cities and vil­lages, music con­certs, cook­ing classes, horse rid­ings, trekking through the olive groves and wit­ness­ing the olive har­vests. Every visit at a mill will end with a tast­ing of freshly milled oil with a slice of warm, fra­grant bread, fol­low­ing the local tra­di­tion of bruschetta.

Visitors will dis­cover typ­i­cal prod­ucts of Umbria such as the deli­cious Castelluccio lentils and the excel­lent Umbrian wines, thanks to the col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Consortium of Castelluccio Lentils PGI and the Wine Tourism Movement of Umbria.

A free shut­tle ser­vice from the main vil­lages to the mills will be avail­able.

During Frantoi Aperti, the Strada dell’Olio will sug­gest a selec­tion of rural hotels and coun­try houses — ​“Le Dimore dell’Umbria Dop” — where tourists will receive a com­pli­men­tary bot­tle of freshly-milled local PDO extra vir­gin olive oil.

More infor­ma­tion can be found on the Frantio Aperti and Strada dell’Olio web­sites. The free app Frantoi Aperti for iPhone and Android, offer easy access to the expand­ing pro­gram.

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