Arcaverde – High altitude oil, soul of Calabria

Arcaverde – High altitude oil, soul of Calabria

There are territories that speak with the wind, that slowly nourish and preserve authentic flavors. In one of these places, on the heights of Calabria, more precisely on the hills of the municipality of Cerchiara di Calabria overlooking the Ionian Sea, in the uncontaminated environment of the Pollino National Park, Arcaverde was born, an organic olive oil company that has made excellence and respect for the environment its banner.

What makes its oils unique is not only the extraordinary quality of the raw material, but the very context in which the olive trees grow: high-altitude lands, difficult to reach, which require expert hands and tenacious work. Here the harvest is tiring, not mechanizable, and access for the workers is often complex. This element, as invisible as it is fundamental, contributes to the real and symbolic value of Arcaverde oil, an authentically artisanal product, the result of a daily challenge with nature.

But it is not just an agricultural challenge. It is also a cultural mission. The presence in the territory of a very rich olive varietal heritage, left in a state of abandonment and oblivion, has reawakened in Arcaverde the desire to recover and enhance these ancient native cultivars, known only locally: Spezzanese, Mafra (a local variant of Grossa di Cassano), Tondina, Olivella Cerchiarese, Corniola and Dolce di Cerchiara. Each variety contains a precious agricultural and anthropological history, which Arcaverde has chosen to bring back to life through respectful cultivation practices bound to quality.

Every step, from pruning to milling, is taken care of with almost maniacal attention. The olives are hand-picked, rigorously selected and pressed within a few hours to preserve all the organoleptic vitality of the fruit. The result is a rich, complex extra virgin olive oil, in which the noblest characteristics of Calabrian olive growing are found: intensity, elegance, persistence.

In an agricultural context that often favors quantity over quality, Arcaverde represents a choice of courage and vision. This is why entering into a collaboration with this reality means sharing profound values: the protection of the territory, the defense of biodiversity, respect for people and the desire to carry forward an agriculture that does not sell its soul, but tells it drop by drop.

ARCAVERDE Simple Agricultural Company, Via G. De Rada, 21, 87100 Cosenza (CS)