Olio Campania (extra virgin olive oil)

History and origin

The Campania Region describes Olio Campania as the result of an ancient bond between land, olive tree and culture: over some 2,500 years the region's favourable conditions spread the crop everywhere, making it an important and sometimes the only source of income, and at the same time a guardian of the landscape.

In the 20th century Campanian oil became the cornerstone of local cooking and of the Mediterranean Diet. The American nutritionist Ancel Keys, regarded as the father of that way of eating, lived in Campania for more than forty years and gave oil a central role in heart health.

The name has a documented commercial history: invoices from various firms from 1991 onwards already used the words Olio Campania, which also appeared on the labels of exported products, sometimes in the German form Kampanien. The Neapolitan shipping company Flotta Lauro served on its cruise ships an oil from the owner's own groves called Olio extra vergine della Campania. Since the 1990s the Region and the University of Naples Federico II have promoted quality guidelines, and today Olio Campania is a Protected Geographical Indication entered in the EU register.

Sources: Regione Campania — Olio Campania IGP (disciplinare e legame con il territorio) · eAmbrosia — Olio Campania (PGI-IT-02795)

Area and method of production

The production area is the whole of Campania, and growing, harvesting and milling the olives must all take place within the region. The oil comes from nineteen Campanian varieties, alone or together: Asprinia, Caiazzana, Carpellese, Frantoio, Leccino, Leccio del Corno, Marinese, Minucciola, Nostrale, Ogliarola campana, Ortice, Ortolana, Pisciottana, Racioppella, Ravece, Rotondella, Salella, Sessana and Tonda. Other varieties may make up at most 15%.

The specification ties quality to climate: hot, dry summers, rain concentrated between autumn and winter, 900 to 1,100 millimetres a year, and an average annual temperature of about 14 degrees. Summer heat and drought encourage polyphenols to build up in the olives.

Human skill matters too. The Region notes that earlier harvesting and a short gap between picking and milling, together with modern mills that control extraction times and temperatures, have produced oils with very low acidity and good polyphenol levels. A 2014 CREA study also showed that Campanian varieties form a genetic group of their own among Italian olive varieties.

Sources: Regione Campania — Olio Campania IGP (disciplinare e legame con il territorio)

How to recognise it

Olio Campania PGI has a medium to high olive fruitiness, with bitterness and pungency in line with its high polyphenol content, at least 200 milligrams per kilo. Its colour ranges from straw yellow to green.

What makes it recognisable is a trio of aromas: almond, artichoke and tomato, at least one of which is always present. The specification traces them to aromatic compounds formed in Campanian olives: green olive and almond notes appear in almost every variety, unripe tomato is typical of Ravece and Ortice, for example, and leaf and artichoke of Nostrale and Minucciola.

The chemical limits are strict: acidity no higher than 0.4% and peroxides no higher than 12. On the label the name Olio Campania must appear in capitals, clearly legible, with the logo; adjectives such as fine, choice, selected or superior are banned, while the word monovarietale followed by the cultivar's name is allowed with authorisation. Containers hold no more than five litres.

Sources: Regione Campania — Olio Campania IGP (disciplinare e legame con il territorio)

Where to taste it

Since the area is the whole region, Olio Campania can be found wherever olives are grown, from the coasts to the inland hills. Each area brings its own varieties: Pisciottana in the Cilento, Ravece in Irpinia, Sessana in the Terre Aurunche near Caserta, Minucciola on the Sorrento Peninsula, and a single-variety oil names its place of origin right on the label.

The Cilento, with its olive-dotted hills overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Amalfi Coast, with its terraces of citrus, vines and olives above the sea, are two landscapes where this bond is easiest to see; the hills around Ariano in Irpinia, with their stretches of centuries-old olive trees, show its inland face.

New oil is available in the months after the harvest, between late autumn and winter. The Region also mentions competitions devoted to the region's oils, such as ExtraCampania and the Premio Extrabio Campania for organic oils, where the best of the production is presented to the public.

Sources: Regione Campania — Olio Campania IGP (disciplinare e legame con il territorio) · Regione Campania — Cilento DOP (olio) · Regione Campania — Irpinia Colline dell'Ufita DOP (olio) · Regione Campania — Terre Aurunche DOP (olio) · Regione Campania — Penisola Sorrentina DOP (olio) · Italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) — Il Cilento · Italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) — Costiera Amalfitana

Protection

• Protected geographical indication (PGI) — PGI-IT-02795 (eAmbrosia — Olio Campania (PGI-IT-02795))

When

• The sources consulted give no months.

Where

Campania