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Authors: Elena Kostioukovitch
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obtained directly from the olives and only through mechanical processesâ and of the âoil of the first cold pressingâ that for fifty years now only one pressing has been used, since current olive presses are powerful enough to immediately press everything there is to be pressed out of the olives; a second pressing simply does not exist. âCold pressingâ merely indicates that the oil is heated to a maximum of 27 degrees C. The most inferior ingredients are heated to 60 degrees C now, as oil once was.
Though we search for the words âProduced in Italyâ on labels, what we find most of the time is, alas, âBottled in Italy.â That means that the oil, coming from Morocco, from Tunisia, from Turkey, and, more and more often now, Spain, is unloaded from enormous tankers in the ports of Genoa, Imperia, and Bari, great centers of olive oil processing and bottling. Poor-quality oils also arrive in abundance in these ports: lamp-grade, pomace oil, and sometimes even the pressing obtained from discarded olive residues: the product obtained from the âdregs of the dregsâ goes into air conditioner filters. The imported oil is ennobled, diluted, cut, sometimes refined. And bottled with the label âBottled in Italy.â
Where then is the oil sung about in myths, so exalted and celebrated: the ideal, authentic, precious oil?
It lies in the collective imagination. Throughout our considerations of the typical products of sixteen out of the twenty Italian regions, we celebrate a higher reality, which also reigns in the consciousness of those who consume the ânectar of olivesâ: the idea of a genuine, life-giving oil, a natural lymph that has nourished a people, tied to the spiritual foundation of life. The ritual use of oil is closely bound to the religious sacraments, and olive oil and holy oil are one and the same. At dinnertime on every table in Italy, leaving aside the label that appears on the bottle, there is a bit of ceremonial liquid, a source of immortality.
Trentino Alto Adige
Goethe, arriving in these outlying regions of Italy, exulted: âFrom Bolzano to Trento one travels for nine miles through a country which grows ever more fertile. Everything which, higher up in the mountains, must struggle to grow, flourishes here in vigour and health, the sun is bright and hot, and one can believe again in a God.â 1
Nevertheless, a traveler coming to these parts from the south or west may feel more as though he is in Austria-Hungary than in Italy. Although it can be unbearably hot in Trento and Bolzano in July and August, the Trentino has the reputation of being almost polar. It is here that inhabitants of the coastal zones (Liguria, Tuscany) escape to refresh themselves on the hills and mountains in the summer, when sultriness reigns throughout the Apennine Peninsula. The cuisine of Trento and of the Alto Adige (or South Tyrol) is characterized by the slogan âWithstand the rigors of winter!â The popular culture is permeated by the dramatic struggle against cold. Here the most joyous festival is the one that marks the end of winter, when a monstrous puppet is solemnly set ablaze.
The Trentino and the South Tyrol are more distinct than alike. While the first has a more typically Italian appearance, the South Tyrol is more akin to Austria. In the Trentino, white and yellow bread are eaten; in the South Tyrol, black bread.
By Alexey Pivovarov
These two halves of the same region even differ in terms of law. While land property in the Trentino is divided among legitimate heirs with no complications, the Alto Adige adheres to the medieval norm of
maggiorascato
, the right of primogeniture, here referred to as
maso chiuso
(literally, closed holding): plots of land cannot be subdivided, so property holdings remain vast. The government of half the region encourages the priorities of traditional agriculture and preserves this institution, a legacy of Venetian
Though we search for the words âProduced in Italyâ on labels, what we find most of the time is, alas, âBottled in Italy.â That means that the oil, coming from Morocco, from Tunisia, from Turkey, and, more and more often now, Spain, is unloaded from enormous tankers in the ports of Genoa, Imperia, and Bari, great centers of olive oil processing and bottling. Poor-quality oils also arrive in abundance in these ports: lamp-grade, pomace oil, and sometimes even the pressing obtained from discarded olive residues: the product obtained from the âdregs of the dregsâ goes into air conditioner filters. The imported oil is ennobled, diluted, cut, sometimes refined. And bottled with the label âBottled in Italy.â
Where then is the oil sung about in myths, so exalted and celebrated: the ideal, authentic, precious oil?
It lies in the collective imagination. Throughout our considerations of the typical products of sixteen out of the twenty Italian regions, we celebrate a higher reality, which also reigns in the consciousness of those who consume the ânectar of olivesâ: the idea of a genuine, life-giving oil, a natural lymph that has nourished a people, tied to the spiritual foundation of life. The ritual use of oil is closely bound to the religious sacraments, and olive oil and holy oil are one and the same. At dinnertime on every table in Italy, leaving aside the label that appears on the bottle, there is a bit of ceremonial liquid, a source of immortality.
Trentino Alto Adige
Goethe, arriving in these outlying regions of Italy, exulted: âFrom Bolzano to Trento one travels for nine miles through a country which grows ever more fertile. Everything which, higher up in the mountains, must struggle to grow, flourishes here in vigour and health, the sun is bright and hot, and one can believe again in a God.â 1
Nevertheless, a traveler coming to these parts from the south or west may feel more as though he is in Austria-Hungary than in Italy. Although it can be unbearably hot in Trento and Bolzano in July and August, the Trentino has the reputation of being almost polar. It is here that inhabitants of the coastal zones (Liguria, Tuscany) escape to refresh themselves on the hills and mountains in the summer, when sultriness reigns throughout the Apennine Peninsula. The cuisine of Trento and of the Alto Adige (or South Tyrol) is characterized by the slogan âWithstand the rigors of winter!â The popular culture is permeated by the dramatic struggle against cold. Here the most joyous festival is the one that marks the end of winter, when a monstrous puppet is solemnly set ablaze.
The Trentino and the South Tyrol are more distinct than alike. While the first has a more typically Italian appearance, the South Tyrol is more akin to Austria. In the Trentino, white and yellow bread are eaten; in the South Tyrol, black bread.
By Alexey Pivovarov
These two halves of the same region even differ in terms of law. While land property in the Trentino is divided among legitimate heirs with no complications, the Alto Adige adheres to the medieval norm of
maggiorascato
, the right of primogeniture, here referred to as
maso chiuso
(literally, closed holding): plots of land cannot be subdivided, so property holdings remain vast. The government of half the region encourages the priorities of traditional agriculture and preserves this institution, a legacy of Venetian
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