Trip to an Olive Oil Factory in Basilicata

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting an Olive Oil Processing Plant "Oleificio" in Rapolla, a small town in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy. It was quite an interesting experience, but I have to say that my romantic idea of old farmers in overalls manually pressing the olives in the back of the barn is now ruined forever. Olive oil processing is done by expensive industrial equipment that looks like it belongs in a NASA laboratory. And this was a small oil plant, owned by 60 local farmers from the area. The big producers must have facilities that resemble the Pentagon. We arrived just as the tractors were dumping the day's harvest into huge bins lining the front of the plant. The farmer's name, address, date-of-birth, and the weight of the yield would then appear on a screen above the bin.

First, the leaves and branches get removed. I tried to take a picture of the pruning machine but since it was dark it didn't come out so good. If you interested in an elaboration, think that the pruning machine looked like one of those things that landscapers toss wood into to turn it into wood chips.

Then, no time is wasted as the olives are immediately crushed by the "presser".



From the presser, they go through a series of machines. I don't quite know what happens then, but I have a photo. The room where all of the machines were was very hot and humid. The fog you see was steam coming out of the machine and not a result of my lousy photo taking skills.



Then, after they pass through all of this heavy machinery, a diarrhea-like (sorry, but what else can I use to describe it?) substance is poured into yet another container, where I assume it is well on its way to becoming olive oil.



From there, we were brought over to the "almost-finished" section, where the unfiltered olive oil is inspected before it gets filtered and bottled.



Then, a guy came over and started scooping out the gunk. Knowing the way things work in Italy, the gunk is probably going to be used to produce something else. Doesn't he just look like he belongs there? Working in an Olive Oil Factory?



The guy then asked me if I'd like to try some. Sure, I said, but instead of coming back with bread he came back with little cups and said "don't shoot it, take very little sips instead and let it sit on your tongue". It was fantastic. It tasted like warm velvet.



Then, the farmers got together in the next room, lit some cigarettes, and started cutting the bread while they made fun of each other. Each of them presumably did something else during the day and they were all calling each other by their titles (architect, doctor, engineer).



If I must say, the olive oil was excellent, possibly the best I've ever tasted. It was still warm off the press and unfiltered. Remember, about an hour ago the oil you are looking at was a truckload of olives.



The guy in the orange sweater is the president of the cooperative. All of the other guys were calling him "presidente". I asked him where he sells his oil and he told me in local shops in the area. What? Unfortunately, high quality products like this never make it out of the town they are produced as there are no means to market them. A real shame! And I think I will have to do something about that very soon!



Bravo, Presidente!

Sending euros to the US

I found a new service which I used to transfer money to the US for my forthcoming trip. I have visited the site frequently for exchange rate info when I found out that they offered a money exchange service. The site is www.xe.com if you're interested (I assume that other expats who read this blog may require the same services). Setting it up was a bit of an annoyance due to all of the security controls. But, thanks to terrorists and scams I suppose they are more than necessary. They had to call me and confirm all of the data I entered and they caught me at a bad time and I had actually forgotten most of the things. Anyway, they somehow believed that I was legit and agreed to set up my account. I had to set up my Italian bank account as the "source", and my US bank account as the "beneficiary". The trade is simple, plus, the exchange rate was much more favorable than what I get at my bank. I initially thought that everything was automatic, but I actually had to go to my bank and order a money transfer. XE routes the money through a bank in Germany, so it takes less time than a transfer to the US. If I were to do it from my Italian account directly to my US account, the international transfer costs €15 going out, and the US bank charges $10 for incoming transfers. Between charges and lousy exchange rate, you can wind up losing close to $100. Since I did it with XE, who routed the money through a European bank, I paid an inter-EU transfer cost of €5, and I haven't seen any charges from my bank for the incoming wire. The whole ordeal took 5 working days, not bad!

By the way, I have no profitable affiliation with any of these places mentioned in this entry, and use their services at your own risk!

Day Trip to Calcata

This past weekend we decided to take a little day trip to Calcata. No, we didn't go to India, but about 42 km (30 mi) north of Rome, between via Cassia and via Flaminia, 2 main roads that lead to Rome (yes, all roads in Italy lead to Rome, but there are only about 5 of them). Calcata is unique in that it seems as if its builders literally chiseled the town from the mountain top. I have a friend who lives there who has been inviting me for the last 2 years. I finally decided to make the trip.



Not only is Calcata an interesting place, but it also has an interesting past. Apart from being initially inhabited by the Etruscans and it was evacuated after the big earthquake of Messina in 1908. Some reports say up to 100,000 people died. After the December 2004 tsunami in SE Asia, I did research on "earthquakes in Italy" on Google and Wikipedia. Just in 1980, a huge earthquake in Eboli (near Naples) killed almost 3000 people. Italy is no stranger to powerful earthquakes throughout the last century. I've witnessed at least 2 since I've been here. One was the aftershock of the Assisi earthquake in 1997 and last summer Rome shook enough to send frightened beach goers to run inland and scream "tsunami tsunami". The medieval hamlet of Calcata shook during the earthquake of 1908 and its inhabitants were moved to the planned community of Calcata Nuova (New Calcata) about 3 km up the hill from Calcata. It wasn't until the 1960s that it was re-inhabited by so-called hippies who came from other places in Italy and around the world. Today the old town counts 60 inhabitants.



There was something very special about Calcata. I've been to many beautiful historic towns in Italy, and most of them are overrun by tourists and all of the garbage that comes with tourism. Stands selling junk, expensive restaurants with ugly menus in bad English out front, huge tour buses blocking the streets, endless fields of out-of-place parking lots, bars selling 2 euro cappuccinos, hotels hotels hotels, etc. These things didn't exist in Calcata. It was too small to accommodate mass tourism. The main square consisted of a few people sitting around talking, quite the contrary from the endless masses of fake portrait dealers, grotesque advertisements, counterfeit Gucci bag sellers, and sandwich stands that line Piazza Navona in Rome.



It was nice to see it empty at lunchtime, no scooters parked on the sidewalk, no cars trying to mow you down. There were a few shops which sold art work and a couple of others that sold hippie garb.

Now, the highlight of the day. We ate lunch at a small restaurant called "I Tre Monti" right at the town's main gate. The porcini mushrooms tasted as if they picked that morning. Calcata's inhabitants seemed content with what they had. There was no need to attract throngs of tourists and ruin the tranquil vibe of the town. It was really a stunning place.

The foundations of most of the houses on the edge of the town, including my friend's, were actually carved out of the grotto.



He had a little balcony which overlooked a beautiful park. The only noise was the sound of the stream. It was truly paradise. He probably paid close to nothing for the place. Always wanting to live in a medieval historic center, he bought it in 1999 when he realized that he would never be able to afford Rome.