In Italy, the olive harvesting season begins usually in October or November, depending on the region, and in Sicily it is already well on its way. We visited an "oleificio" (olive press) to see how olive oil is made and filmed the most important steps to share with you.
Our hosts were the Padova (www.san-basilio.com) family, who own an oleificio in the South-East of Sicily and allowed us to film the different phases of the traditional "cold-press" method.
Life at the oleificio in this period is very hectic, as after picking, it is very important that olives are taken immediately to be pressed to get the best possible end result. The Padovas are one of Sicily's best extra virgin olive oil producers and press their olives in the family oleificio, which is also used by others. So this time it is a place of continious activity as the pressing of the Padova's olives in intermixed with olive pressing for other small family run olive groves making olive oil for their own consumption.
