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Frantoio Romano
Pasquale
Frantoio Romano is a small olive mill on the north-eastern flank of Mount Etna in the village of Bronte. A village that is best known for its production of pistachios. Everywhere in the village you see their main produce: pistachio cake, pistachio ice cream, pistachio paste, pistachio cookies. If you can imagine it, they have it here. Besides pistachio, in part thanks to the fertile soil of Etna, one of the best olive oils on the island is produced here by the Romano family.
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The Romano family
Frantoio Romano was founded in 1959 by the Romano brothers after their father had bought an old olive mill. At that time, it was customary that everyone in Sicily knew someone with a few olive trees. Those olives would be pressed every year in the local olive mill. This oil was then shared among relatives and friend to provide everyone with olive oil.
Pressing for free
The Romano brothers realized that there was more potential and they started making agreements with the farmers. The farmers were allowed to press olive oil for free if they gave part of the oil to the brothers. The brothers sold the oil and developed one of the first modern olive mills in Sicily. When they became successful, they had the choice to grow in volume or increase quality. Fortunately, they chose the latter. Now they choose which farmers can come and press their olives to guarantee the highest quality olive oil.
Quality first
When we visited, we were welcomed by Pasquale Romano, and we couldn’t have chosen a better time. Pasquale was busy with the pressing, and we were allowed to see all the steps and try olive oil straight from the press! Pasquale spoke proudly about the quality of the oil, achieved thanks to the combination of modern techniques in the olive mill, the fantastic soil of Mount Etna and the farmers' passion for quality.
Traditional picking, modernly pressing
The result is a line of fantastic extra virgin olive oils for an equally attractive price. At Mezzogiorno you can choose the relatively mild Don Mice, the more powerful Le Sciare or the Monte Etna DOP. All high quality oils, where the olives are picked by hand and pressed on the same day with the most modern pressing techniques.
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