The “future” of olive oil. Super intensive olive harvest open-day at the University of Bari experimental field in Valenzano. Marked by almost complete mechanization and the use of fast-growth varieties (such as Arbequina), super-intensive olive farming is widespread in Spain, the world’s main olive oil producer and Italy’s main competitor.
30th of April, 2017: The “fa!” (the Fair of Self-productions) of Molfetta. Since 2008, this group has organized regular organic food markets in Bari and then in Molfetta. Every month or so, small scale organic producers, artists, activists and many others gather in a square for a Sunday of food, children’s shows, talks and music.
Lecce, Italy – 1st of May, 2016: A orthodox priest blesses the faithful during the Orthodox Eastern celebrations at the church of San Niccolò dei Greci, in the Apulian city of Lecce.
Like every year, people all across the Mediterranean sea embarked upon harvesting olives, as it has been for more than 7,000 years. Among the hills of the Valle d’Itria, in south Italy, most families have their own olives and pick them around November, before they fall off the branches. Usually by time people get around to do it, summer is long gone, turning the harvest in a cold race against the coming rain.
In South Italy one understands the summer is coming to an end when people begin to talk about the “sugars”, referring to the sugar content of their grapes. When the “sugars” are right, it is time to embark on the yearly ritual of the grape harvest, which in Puglia means enlisting your friends and family for a few days of work and drinking on what might as well be the last hot days of the year.