Cutrera:
the Sicilian EVOO, betweek history and innovation
We produce one of the best extra virgin olive oils in the heart of southeast Sicily, where the Hyblaean Mountains overlook the sea from afar and the Mediterranean breeze, along with its scent, carefully and harmoniously ripen our olives. Where farmer’s wisdom has helped the land give its best.
The territory that gives life to our extra virgin olive oil
is not just a set of geographical, physical and climatic characteristics; it is also its people, traditions, culture and all the elements that give character to a product, just as the earth and the sun do. Our oil, like our history, was born in Sicily, on the Hyblaean Mountains, an area where these trees have grown spontaneously for thousands of years and which today give life to one of the most celebrated DOPs in the world. We are in the countryside surrounding the village of Chiaramonte Gulfi, in the heart of the famous Baroque of the Val di Noto where the wisdom of architects and stonemasons has made an already blessed land even more beautiful over the centuries. Here, the flavours and scents, as well as the landscape and monuments, contribute to giving a unique and complete experience for the senses.
The island of olive trees
Sicily is the third largest Italian region, by surface area, devoted to olive growing. Situated as it is, in the centre of the Mediterranean, it has absorbed the culture of all the different civilizations that have passed through it over the centuries and which have left their marks not only in art but also in agriculture. Furthermore, its pedoclimatic peculiarities have given rise to many different habitats to which tree species have adapted over the millennia, giving life to a great biodiversity.
The Iblei mountains
The DOP Monti Iblei is born in the vast limestone plateau of southeastern Sicily, and where we call home. We are in the hinterland amongst the provinces of Syracuse and Ragusa, between vast plateaus and deep valleys. The centuries-old olive trees predominate here and alternate with the new plants, dressing the hills together with carob trees, almond trees and grape vines. The Moresca and Tonda Iblea varieties dominate this territory and produce a well-balanced oil with rich, tasty, intense and persistent flavour, with an unmistakable hint of tomato and fresh grass.
Sicilian cultivars
Our passion for oil has prompted us over the years to discover and deepen our knowledge of other olive-growing territories as well as other main Sicilian cultivars, in addition to Tonda Iblea and Moresca. For example, the Nocellara etnea which cover the slopes of the Etna Volcano and frames the orange groves: with its late ripening, small and smooth pit, making this cultivar the protagonist not only an excellent medium-intense fruity oil but also of precious table olives . In the western part of the island, between the gulf of Castellammare and the Belice river, the particular pedoclimatic characteristics and the presence of plains and valleys give life to other valuable cultivars such as the Cerasuola which produces an oil rich in polyphenols and it gives the sensation of of fresh grass and green almonds and on the outskirts of the province of Agrigento, the la Nocellara del Belice which in Sicily is the only example of large-scale olive monoculture. The large fruits, with crunchy pulp, produce a very intense fruity oil with strong sensations of bitterness and spiciness. Finally, Val di Mazara is dominated by Biancolilla. This very rustic cultivar produces a medium-light fruity oil characterized by well-known aromas of artichoke and fresh grass.
The island to protect
Our line of preserves was born from the love for this land, its landscapes and its traditions, its tranquil villages and its sunny countryside. It comes from the scents of our childhood and from family celebrations, from grandmothers’ secrets and from the rediscovery of an authentic and genuine past. From pistachios to capers, from the native piglet to wild fennel from the Hyblaean countryside, each product speaks of a precise territory, of biodiversity that the world envies us, of small and local producers and of farmers who work the land with the same passion and respect as in the past. Many preserves come from the fields around our olive groves in the heart of the Hyblaean Mountains, a magical place where nature still predominates.
