Pitino Agricolo
110 acre historic farm in its own valley located at Borgo Monticole, Le Marche, Italy.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Carbon Farming, Forest Garden.
Shop PA
Its been a long time coming but our extra virgin olive oil is now in the UK and available to order online. Click the product links below to find out more!
Help! We Bought a Village, Channel 4
In early 2022 we started filming for a new Channel 4 series called "Help We Bought a Village!" The programme follows our journey restoring the farm and nearby hamlet, Borgo Monticole. As well as the fun and foibles of running a farm, you'll learn more about the history of the valley, and meet our neighbours and friends.
Season 1 was released in Summer 2022. It reached over a million viewers. It was also broadcast on PBS in the USA and was nominated for a BAFTA. Season 2 was released in October 2023. We hope you've enjoyed it!
The farm was the subject of a trending article on Apple News and most read article of the week in The Times money section, as well as articles in The Independent, The Mail Online, and Italian newspapers Dagospia and il Resto di Carlino. Read more below!
You can also keep following our journey on the farm by watching us on YouTube, and of course by following us on Instagram.
Why our oil is so special
Our olives
Le Marche has the most recognised autochthonous olive cultivars of any region in the world, and we benefit from their quality and distinctiveness.
Our farm is home to over 100 ancient olive trees, and nearly 2,000 newly planted trees—a mix of rare local varieties Orbetana, Piantone, Coronina, Mignola, Raggia and Raggiola cultivars. We are still discovering more around the farm and bringing them back to life.
Farming
Our farm was abandoned in the 1960s and the valley was uncultivated for decades. With no other farms or residences upstream and our own water basin, the olives grow in a totally unspoilt and pristine environment. We have had our BIO certification visit, and are now awaiting full ‘Certificazione Agricoltura Biologica’ status.
We don't use any treatment, even organic treatments like copper, on our trees or olives. We are naturally well-protected from olive fly and other pests by our cold winters and biodiverse surroundings, and our cultivars have proved resistant to diseases such as knot or peacock spot. We don’t irrigate our mature trees, and we only use gravity to irrigate our young trees from our own stream.
Harvesting
We handpick and press our olives between late-September and mid-October. All our olives are picked either before or at the very early stages of veraison and pressed within 12 hours after harvesting. Picking this early means our milling costs are high — we got just a 12% yield in 2022 — but we believe it’s worth it for the higher polyphenol content and stronger flavour.
Milling
In 2022 and 2023, we used a local mill with the latest centrifuge technology and with minimal water use. We plan to have installed our own cutting-edge two-phase, sealed malaxer mill on the farm for the 2026 harvest.
Terroir
This year our oil is being certified for the ‘Le Marche’ IGP. With its relatively temperate climate, alkaline soils, and medium-high altitudes, Le Marche has been renowned for quality oil since Roman times. The “Arte dei Ternieri" (1263), regulating Venice’s artisan cheese and oil guild, sanctioned selling "the oil of Marchia" at a premium by virtue of its colour and flavour.
Le Marche IGP oil has the most demanding quality requirements of any registered denomination: < 0.4% acidity, > 200mg/kg polyphenol > 72% oleic and < 9% linoleic.
Our Story
In summer 2021, aged 25 and 27, we decided to up sticks and buy a ruined farm in Italy. Leaving hopes of academic careers behind us, we begun dedicating our time to restoring a valley that had lain abandoned for decades. Caring for our ancient olive trees, dipping our toes into viticulture and animal husbandry, rediscovering ancient farming practices, and restoring the main farm house and outbuildings have been the mainstays of our first few years. We look forward to sharing the journey with you!
Jerry & Lucie
Carbon Farming & Permaculture
Airlines say 'click this button to offset your carbon emissions' but often this just means planting a fir tree and destroying biodiversity in the process. Instead, our Carbon Farming project allows you to invest in planting local and rare tree varieties that will sink carbon while increasing biodiversity and maintaining the historic significance of an old Italian farm.
While we're just getting started, in our first two years alone we've already planted nearly 2,000 trees of local ancient varieties and 600 vines of local ancient varieties and built two zero-fuel natural water pumps to pump rainwater back up onto our land and the land of a neighbouring small-scale farmer, keeping the new trees alive.
Our goal is to build on Le Marche's existing agro-diverse culture of small-holder farming. We want to see the region become a global leader in regenerative agriculture, guided by four key principles:
(1) increasing soil fertility,
(2) protecting biodiversity,
(3) prioritising water retention and cleanliness,
(4) promoting soil carbon sequestration.
70
ancient olive trees
1700
kilos of olives
204
litres of Monticole oil
Contact
Località Pitino 112,
San Severino Marche,
Le Marche,
62027 (MC) Italy
+393792874269