It takes a route that has historical roots almost lost in time, but lives a present made of life choices, choices of young people, confident in the future, busy and engaging. We speak in strict alphabetical order, starting from the Western Ligurian or from the PDO Riviera Ligure-Riviera dei Fiori.
There we meet the Antico Frantoio Ramoino Franco, located in a strategic site at the end of the Impero valley: near the nineteenth-century drift of the road to Piedmont, between Costa and Borgo, d'Oneglia, of course. It is an activity that starts from afar, with origins between Lucinasco and Costa d'Oneglia and the olive-growing lands not far from the gombo.
We then move on to the Azienda Agricola Blengini Adriano. Hadrian's sharp, sun-baked face is significant in itself. He made a life choice: enough bulldozers, asphalt and concrete, but open air in contact with nature. And the recovery of olive groves, among which stands out the town of the Panigai in Villa Viani, the Agazza tributary valley of the Impero. Panigai: rupestral, rocky, margin of broom and wood, sunny, elevated in view of the sea, where millet was once cultivated. And since two hundred years it is the turn of the olive tree.
At Villa Viani there is also the group of terraced countryside that provides olives to Frantoio San Martino s.s.a .. We talk about a young company because led by young Claudio and Maurizio, in Dolcedo, val Prino, inland of Imperia Porto Maurizio. Young, but with deep roots. The core of the activity turns around a secular old mill, driven by water power at the Rio dei Boschi. Bought out by their family 1923, it has kept the original equipment, but new spaces have been created for more and more modern mills up to the continuous cycle. San Martino is then a historic town of Dolcedo, picturesque and remained suspended in time like the owners, who take advantage of areas such as those of Villa Viani and Conna di Andora, in Val Merula and already in the province of Savona.
A shift from cliff to cliff in the province of Imperia and here is the wide smile of Federico Aprosio. He has also chosen the countryside and translates his passion into hospitality thanks to his agritourism. In fact, we speak of the Azienda Agrituristica Lo Scoiattolo. The hub of the activity is in Verrandi, one of the many hamlets of Ventimiglia. Extreme Western Liguria and places often not known to mass tourism, but full of stories to tell, of meanings, of unusual aspects. Moreover, in this area kissed by a confidant sun, the olive trees are often secular and productive, having survived the frosts of the early eighteenth century. And Federico takes care of his plants with passion.
We return to the district of Imperia with the Goccia Cooperativa Sociale. There we speak about a very particular reality in the western Ligurian context, because it is undeniable its role of strong impact on civil society as well as on the territory. The cooperative is born in a context of active religiousness at the social level as well as in the will to give back hope to people in difficult conditions. Hence a strong initiative in favor of migrants seeking asylum, initiated to the knowledge of olive growing and a commitment on the ground that led to the productive return of many olive groves, especially in Val Prino, inland of Imperia Porto Maurizio. And now there are new caretakers of the territory. So young companies are presented, with roots as powerful as the trees they take care of.
Judit Neuberger
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