Olive Varieties of Italy: A Field Guide
No country wears its olives more proudly than Italy — or grows more different ones. From Puglia’s fierce oils to Sicily’s buttery green table olives, here is a guide region by region.
Italy is not one olive culture but twenty, one for each region, and the variety is dizzying. Here are the ones worth knowing, mapped to where they grow.
The south: power and giants
Puglia, the heel, presses more oil than any other region: the fierce, peppery Coratina, softened by the gentle Ogliarola, plus the giant Cerignola table olive. Calabria has its Carolea; Sardinia the robust Bosana.
Sicily: bright and aromatic
Sicily gives the world its buttery green Castelvetrano (the Nocellara del Belice), the award-winning Tonda Iblea, and the blending duo Biancolilla and Cerasuola.
The centre and north: balance and finesse
Tuscany’s classic is the Frantoio–Leccino blend; Umbria adds the bold Moraiolo. Liguria gives the tiny, sweet Taggiasca; Lake Garda, almost the northern limit of the olive, the elegant Casaliva. The Marche fries its giant Ascolana Tenera.
One thing to hold in mind: Italy is also the world’s great seller of olive oil, and a large share of what’s “bottled in Italy” is pressed from olives grown in Spain, Greece or Tunisia and merely filled into glass on Italian soil. “Italian” on the front is a reputation; the real origin is on the back. See “bottled in Italy”.