APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES
Geracese olive
Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Calabria
In brief
- An olive cultivar from the Locride on the Ionian coast of Reggio Calabria, found mainly between Monasterace and Brancaleone. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese)
- It ripens late, turning wine-black; its flavour is strong, with notes of mint, fennel, basil and rosemary. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese)
- It goes mostly to the mill, but the larger fruit is also eaten as table olives, brined or crushed. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese)
History and origin
According to the Slow Food Presidium, the olive tree reached Calabria with the first Achaean colonists in the eighth century BC, on the coasts between Kaulon, Kroton and Sybaris. In the colony of Locri Epizephyrii its cultivation is documented by finds, inscriptions and studies of the Greek diet: oil was used in cooking, in rituals and in the body care of athletes, and the city's main temple was dedicated to the deity to whom the olive was sacred.
Around the year 1000, notarial deeds of sale record olive groves in the Mammola area. After periods of neglect and recovery, olive growing took firm hold in the Renaissance and became one of the pillars of Calabria's farm economy.
Along this long path the geracese variety has for over a century been one of the most distinctive cultivars of the Ionian coast of Reggio. Abandonment of marginal land and wildfires threaten its survival, and the few remaining growers are working to bring it back: in 2026 it became a new Slow Food Presidium in Calabria.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese · ARSAC — La Calabria a Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2026
Area and method of production
The geracese is grown on the Ionian side of Reggio Calabria province, mainly between the towns of Monasterace and Brancaleone. The climate is warm and mild, with frequent autumn rain and hot, very dry summers.
The groves are managed with ordinary care.
Ripening is late and harvest usually falls in November, with traditional methods. On tall trees the olives are knocked down with long, flexible poles of ash or chestnut onto nets and sheets spread beneath; on low trees they are picked by hand or with a comb. Once crates, baskets or sacks are filled, the olives go to the mill.
How to recognise it
The geracese olive is obovate, slightly asymmetrical, and turns a wine-black colour when fully ripe.
Its flavour is strong and decisive, with very aromatic green notes that the Presidium describes as moss, mint, fennel, basil, rosemary and sage.
The tree is distinctive too: it is vigorous, grows upright and has a fairly dense crown, with fruiting branches pointing upwards and close together. The leaves are long and pointed, deep green and medium-sized, and the small flowers are grouped in compact clusters, on average thirteen each.
The cultivar is grown mainly for oil, but the larger fruits are often used as table olives as well.
In the kitchen
Most of the harvest goes to the mill and becomes oil. The large olives are also used for the table, preserved and in brine, in pâtés and as traditional crushed olives.
Calabria keeps many recipes for table olives, now recognised among its traditional food products: olives in brine, crushed, in salt, cured with lime, kept in jars and oven-baked black olives. In these preparations olives accompany the bread, cheese and cured meats of the farmhouse table.
Extra virgin olive oil is also the basis of many Calabrian preserves, from aubergines to chillies in oil.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese · ARSAC (Regione Calabria) — I prodotti DOP, IGP e PAT della Calabria
Where to taste it
The geracese is an olive of the Locride, the Ionian coast of Reggio between Monasterace and Brancaleone. Harvest is in November, and the olives go to the mill for pressing.
It is the land of ancient Locri Epizephyrii, where the olive is documented from Greek times. Above the coast stands Gerace, a village on a crag with the sea on one side and the mountains on the other, founded according to tradition by refugees from Locri and famous for its churches, including a cathedral consecrated in 1045.
In 2026 the geracese olive was presented with Calabria's other new Presidia at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto: a sign of attention to a variety that growers in the Locride are bringing back to their groves.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese · Italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) — Gerace · ARSAC — La Calabria a Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2026
Protection
- Slow Food Presidium — oliva-geracese (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese)
When
- Harvest: November (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva geracese)
- Autumn