Nocellara Etnea Olives
The dual-purpose olive of Etna’s slopes: a good table olive and a fresh, fruity oil.
The Nocellara Etnea is the olive of the volcano — grown on the rich, dark slopes of Mount Etna and across eastern Sicily. Distinct from the western Nocellara del Belice, it is a genuinely dual-purpose variety: a good round table olive, cured green or black, and the source of a fresh, fruity, well-balanced oil grown in volcanic soil. A characterful eastern-Sicilian all-rounder.
- Origin
- Mount Etna, eastern Sicily · Italy
- Type
- Table & oil
- Colour
- Green to black
- Size
- Medium-large, round
- Flavour (oil)
- Fresh, fruity, balanced
- Soil
- Volcanic (Etna)
- Best for
- Table olives and oil
Grown on a volcano
Etna’s mineral-rich volcanic soils grow famous wine — and good olives. The Nocellara Etnea thrives on those slopes, giving a round, fleshy table olive (cured green for crunch or black for softness) and a fresh, fruity oil with a clean, balanced character. It shares a name-root with the western Nocellara del Belice but is its own distinct eastern cultivar.
Don’t confuse the two Nocellaras: the Nocellara del Belice in the west is the one cured as Castelvetrano ; the Nocellara Etnea is the eastern, Etna-slope variety. Both are good, dual-purpose Sicilian olives — just from opposite ends of the island.