Oliveto Letizia · Nebrodi Mountains, Sicily

Our Story

Our next chapter is taking shape in the Nebrodi Mountains of Sicily. Following settlement, we hope to begin tending the grove that will become the home of LONGIORO. Until then, the estate remains in the care of its current owners. The plans described here are our intentions for the future, not work already undertaken by us.

The grove sits on the northern slopes of the Nebrodi Mountains of northern Sicily overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, on land that borders the Parco dei Nebrodi. The grove is old. The Minuta trees here are over a hundred years old, their roots deep in the mountain soil.

The name Oliveto Letizia honours the family whose roots are in these mountains. Ignazio Letizia and Nona Antunica. Their land was here. This is a different grove, on the same mountain. The name is intended as a continuation, not a restoration of the original family farm. The connection is one of place and lineage, not of the same soil underfoot.

The original Letizia farm stands elsewhere on the same mountain — its stone walls and shuttered windows still there, the olive trees still growing at its base. The grove we hope to make the home of Oliveto Letizia is a different place, chosen for its old Minuta trees, its altitude, and its position within the Nebrodi. The name is a bridge between the two.

On the estate stands an old casale — a traditional Sicilian farmhouse — and the ruins of a Norman watchtower, remnants of the island’s layered history. The tower’s silhouette is the inspiration for our bottle, label and box designs: a mark of place, and of permanence.

Following settlement, we hope to approach the care of the casale and the grove slowly and thoughtfully. Any restoration will be a future undertaking, shaped by the needs of the place.

La Torre — the tower — is a Norman watchtower ruin that stands on the estate. Built during the Norman occupation of Sicily in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it is one of many such structures that once formed a chain of signal towers across the island’s northern coast. This one has remained on the land, slowly returning to the mountain. It is the oldest thing here. Its silhouette is the mark planned for LONGIORO bottles, labels and boxes.

The name Letizia is carved into the stone steps of the piazza at Capo d’Orlando — the town at the foot of the mountain. Some things do not need to be explained. They simply endure.

Our intention is to make the oil in the tradition of these mountains: attentively, seasonally, with an understanding that quality is not a feature you add, but a standard you maintain.

The Cultivars

Minuta is not a well-known name outside Sicily. That is part of what makes it remarkable.

Classified as a Slow Food Presidium — a designation reserved for food traditions at genuine risk of disappearing — Minuta is one of the rarest olive cultivars in southern Italy. It produces less fruit than commercial varieties, ripens on its own schedule, and does not respond well to industrial methods. In return, it yields an oil of unusual refinement: delicate, fruity, high in polyphenols, with a character that stands apart from the bold, peppery oils more commonly associated with Sicilian production.

Minuta cannot pollinate itself. Verdello and Biancolilla grow throughout the grove for this reason — pollinators by necessity, contributors by nature. Verdello brings brightness and clean freshness to the oil; Biancolilla adds a soft, buttery roundness that smooths the finish. What begins as a biological requirement becomes, in the press, a more complete and balanced oil than Minuta could produce alone.

The Terroir

The Nebrodi Mountains are not where most people picture Sicilian olive oil coming from. The island’s reputation is built on the sun-baked lowlands of the south — big, bold oils from flat, irrigated groves. The Nebrodi are different.

Known as the green heart of Sicily, the Nebrodi range sits in the island’s north, defined by forest, altitude, and a climate that bears little resemblance to the coast. The summers are dry but not punishing. The winters bring cold that slows the olive’s development, concentrating its compounds and extending the growing season in ways that lower-altitude groves cannot replicate. The result is a fruit that is smaller, denser, and richer in polyphenols than what the plains produce.

The soil is mineral-rich mountain earth — not the sandy coastal soils of commercial Sicilian production. The grove sits within the shadow of the Parco dei Nebrodi, one of the largest protected natural areas in Italy, where the land has not been subject to the agricultural intensification that has reshaped much of the Mediterranean.

This is what terroir means in practice: not a marketing word, but a set of conditions — altitude, climate, soil, biodiversity — that cannot be moved or replicated. We hope to express this place through our first oil. Tasting notes will follow pressing.

Looking Ahead to the Harvest

Following settlement, we plan to assess the grove’s needs and begin tending the trees. Rejuvenation will be a patient undertaking, not a claim of work already completed.

We hope to begin with the 2026 harvest, subject to settlement and the season. The first Prima Raccolta release is provisionally planned for early 2027. The oil has not yet been pressed or bottled. Final harvest, production and release details will be confirmed when we are in a position to do so.

Our intention is to pick the olives by hand and cold-extract them at the mill within six hours of picking. The planned founding allocation is 500 numbered bottles, subject to the harvest.

The harvest changes year to year. Weather, timing, the particular character of the season — all of it finds its way into the bottle. That variation is not a flaw. It is the record of a place and a year, preserved in oil.

Planned Provenance

We plan to link each numbered bottle of Prima Raccolta to an individual provenance record on the XRP Ledger. The record will document the estate, cultivar, harvest and bottle number, with a QR code connecting each bottle to its certificate. Bottle-specific records and verification will follow production.

You should know where your oil comes from. We will share production details and provenance records as those milestones take place.

Oliveto Letizia · A future chapter in the Nebrodi Mountains, Sicily