Ask people to name an Italian olive oil region and most will say Tuscany. Ask Italians, and many will point a little further south-east, to Umbria: a small, landlocked region of hills, medieval towns and olive groves, often called il cuore verde d'Italia, the green heart of Italy.
Umbria produces a tiny share of Italy's olive oil, but it has a reputation for some of the country's most distinctive: deep green, grassy, bitter and peppery.
Hills, not plains
Umbria has no coast. Its olives grow on hillsides, often on old stone terraces, with rocky, well-drained soils. Hill farming is harder and yields are lower, but the trees produce concentrated, characterful fruit.
Umbria also sits towards the northern edge of where olives grow well. Autumns are cooler than in the south, the fruit ripens more slowly, and the threat of early frost means harvest tends to start early, while many olives are still green. Green olives make greener, more bitter and more peppery oil.
The olive belt between Assisi and Spoleto
Along the foot of the Apennine mountains, between the towns of Assisi and Spoleto, runs a narrow strip of hillside olive groves known as the Fascia Olivata Assisi–Spoleto. Terraced, dotted with ancient trees and farmed in much the same way for centuries, it was recognised by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in 2018 as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, one of the few olive landscapes in the world with that status.
Our estate is in this belt, on the slopes near Vescia, outside Foligno.
Umbria DOP
Umbria has its own protected designation of origin, Umbria DOP, divided into five sub-zones: Colli Assisi–Spoleto, Colli Martani, Colli Amerini, Colli del Trasimeno and Colli Orvietani. DOP oils must be made from set varieties within the area and pass extra checks. It's a useful guide when you're buying Umbrian oil from producers you don't know.
The varieties
Umbrian oil is built mainly on three traditional olives:
- Moraiolo: small, dark and intense; the source of the region's spice. More about Moraiolo.
- Frantoio: fruity and balanced.
- Leccino: mild and soft.
Most producers blend them. We make ours from Moraiolo alone.
Old trees, old habits
Olive trees can live for many centuries, and Umbria is full of them: gnarled, hollow trunks still producing fruit every year. Many of the trees on our estate were planted around 1540, when the estate's monastery was built, which is where our name comes from.
The olive is woven into Umbrian life. Each autumn, mills across the region throw their doors open for Frantoi Aperti, a season of tastings and food festivals celebrating the new oil, and families still bring their own olives to the local mill to be pressed.
How to enjoy Umbrian oil like an Umbrian
- Bruschetta: toasted bread, rubbed with garlic, salted and drowned in new oil.
- Legumes: lentils from Castelluccio, chickpeas and beans, finished with a generous pour.
- Grilled meat: pork, lamb and sausages from the grill, with oil and rosemary.
- Truffles: Umbria's black truffle and its oil are a famous match.
Taste Umbria
Our 2026 oil was first milled on 5 October 2026 from organic Moraiolo olives on our estate in the Assisi–Spoleto olive belt.