Italy is the world’s leading consumer of extra virgin olive oil.
Italy is also the olive oil producing country with the highest number of varieties in the world. It is estimated that there are more than 500 varieties of olive trees (cultivars), capable of producing a multitude of excellent oils. All these cultivars, multiplied by the number of microclimates in Italy and the different qualities of the soil, make Italy the undisputed qualitative star of the world olive oil market.
Other producing countries, such as Spain (the world’s leading oil producer, by quantity), have much fewer cultivars: 50-70 at the most.
Some of the best-known Italian cultivars are: leccino, frantoio, moraiolo (in Umbria and central Italy), coratina, ogliarola, biancolilla, nocellara, taggiasca, moresca, carolea, itrana, etc.; each with different characteristics that vary from region to region, from place to place.
Preserving and enhancing the varietal heritage of a given territory means protecting quality and maintaining the organoleptic characteristics of oils that make up their “typicality”, guaranteed by the POD and IGP designations of origin.
