We
had a unique opportunity today to visit an olive oil masseria, a farm that
tends and presses olive oil from trees over two thousand years old. And we met “L’elefante”, a three thousand
year old tree. Much of this grove in the
Masseria Brancati was planted by the Romans over two thousand years ago and is
still producing oil today. The trees are massive, twisted trunks in impeccable
rows nourished by the red soil of Ostuni.
We
toured the groves then into the earth to see the original olive presses … first
by the Messipians, the original citizens who arrived here from Greece in 900BC
(around the same time as the Etruscans in Toscana), then by the Romans, and
each successive civilization with their attendant technological improvements
until the modern era. We touched a three
thousand and year old olive tree. I still
cannot wrap my mind around that.
Then
on to La Città Bianca, the White City of Ostuni. Sitting high above the valley
it is a winding maze of streets with a view of thousands of olive groves
extending to the sea. A miracle of placement and beauty. We sat sipping prosecco on a perfectly balmy
evening watching the sunset and marveling at our good fortune.