Nostrana di Brisighella Olives
L’olive prisée de Brisighella, en Émilie-Romagne — l’une des plus septentrionales d’Italie.
The Nostrana di Brisighella is the prized olive of the hills around Brisighella, in Emilia-Romagna — one of the northernmost serious olive zones in Italy. It gives a fresh, fruity, elegant oil with artichoke, thistle and almond notes and a clean, balanced bitterness. Brisighella’s oil was among the very first in Italy to win a DOP, and it remains a benchmark of northern Italian quality.
- Origin
- Brisighella, Emilia-Romagna · Italy
- Type
- Oil olive
- Colour
- Green to black
- Flavour (oil)
- Fresh, fruity, artichoke, thistle
- Climate
- One of Italy’s northernmost
- Reputation
- Early Italian DOP
- Best for
- Fine, fresh finishing oil
Northern Italy’s quiet benchmark
Olives this far north are unusual, and Brisighella’s sheltered hills are something special. The Nostrana gives a fresh, vivid, elegant oil — green and fruity, with the artichoke-and-thistle character prized in fine Italian oils and a clean, well-judged bitterness. It earned one of Italy’s earliest olive-oil DOPs, a mark of how seriously the area takes its single great variety.
Because production is small and northern, Brisighella oil is a premium, named, single-variety bottle rather than a commodity — and worth seeking out for its freshness and finesse. Look for the Brisighella DOP and a recent harvest.