Posted by Bob on Jun 18, 2013 | 0 comments

The history of Olive Tree

– The origins of the cultivation of olives were found in the Middle East, and then it developed throughout the Mediterranean basin.
In Syria and Palestine, mills have been found dating back to 5000 BC.
In Italy, more precisely in areas around Torre a Mare (Bari) and Fasano (Brindisi) geologists found artefacts dated back to the same period confirming as in that period olives were part of the local gastronomThe cultivation of olives and the production of olive oil were generating social well-being both economically and politically.The population of the Philistines has left important remains related to the process by which they reduced the olive in paste using mortars made of stone and circular filters made with olive tree branches intertwined, used to extract and sift the oil from the paste, similar to today’s “fiscoli”.

In the religious cultures and the Jewish people particularly, used the olive tree branches and the oil as symbol of peace. For example, the dove that brought the twig of olive tree to Noè, it is still today a representative of religious tradition or it was used for sanctifying and consecrating the priests and the ceremonies.
Thanks to Phoenician people, the olive tree arrived to many countries facing the Mediterranean. All those coastal areas of the Mediterranean basin experienced a major economic and trade development, particularly encouraged by the possibility to cultivate olive trees and vines, which were largely requested by populations in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
During the period of the Roman Empire, the cultivation of olive trees and the production of olive oil had a great development, having major improvements in cultivation practices, and the exchange and sale of olive oil was in a kind of stock exchange called “ark oil.” This suggests that the olive oil was considered “green gold”.
The olive oil was transported in goat-skins or terracotta amphorae, by sea or land as documenting findings made throughout the Mediterranean.
With the fall of Roman Empire and the arrival of barbaric populations, the Mediterranean agriculture and olive trees in particular suffered severe damage and nearly disappeared, giving place to forests and uncultivated lands.
In the Middle Ages olive oil became rare and precious, however, thanks to the monasteries and convents, the olive trees where once again reintroduced and grown in large extensions.
At the end of “Medieval”, Olive oil reached again the high levels of production. Ships laden with oil departed from growing areas, (centre-south) of Italy and the Mediterranean countries, and delivered to the North of Europe.
Between the 1600s and 1700s, during the Spanish domination, a deputy in Southern Spain was ordered to enlarge the roads that connect Naples, Puglia and Calabria to facilitate the transportation of olive oil.
Nowadays, the Italian Olive has undergone major developments both qualitatively and quantitatively.
They changed systems and forms of plant cultivation.
They were replaced with productive varieties that were  more successful, with graft techniques and the integration of plants more suitable to market requirements.
The time of collection begins in early November and lasts until the end of January, beginning of February, depending on the region
Today, the olive tree has spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and in most regions of Italy.
In the world, there are about 800 million olives trees of which 90% are being cultivated in the Mediterranean basin, with  Italy being a major producer accounting for over 20% of the worlds production of Olive oil.