Olive oil is produced throughout Italy. The oil varies depending on the region where is made. More than 90% of the world's supply comes from the Mediterranean area with Italy providing about one third of the
total. Italians, however, consume the most olive oil about 12 liters
per person, per year. It is the most versatile of oils, it can be used in cooking, as a dressing or used as a preservative for vegetables and herbs. Olives were first domesticated around 6000 B.C. when people
in the Near East figured out that, although olives didn't taste good fresh, they could be cooked or pickled in brine, or pressed for their oil.
Not only did olive oil come to be used for cooking, but it was also used as a lubricant, and as a key ingredient in medicines, soaps and cosmetics. Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all placed a high value on the olive and granted it a sacred status.
Related
to this tradition is use of " sacred oil " today,
particularly in Tuscany where holy oil, or "olio Santo", is still made from olive oil, whole chili peppers and
basil leaves. This oil is used to enhance the flavor of
simple broths. The Romans were the first to commercially
produce olive oil and they developed techniques to grow
olives and extract their oil;
practices that have been used up to modern times. After the fall of the Empire, the Benedictine monks, who used olive oil in religious as well as culinary practices, continued to nurture the cultivation of olives.td>
During the Middle Ages, this practice once again flourished throughout the region with the Tuscans regarding it as an essential crop.
However, it was Florence and Siena that became the major producers of olive oil.
Olives were grown in-between fruit and nut trees, a practice, which continued until after World War II when new irrigation and planting techniques took hold.
