L'olio della Serenissima

18 -21 and 26 -28
April 2024

Gallery 2023

Who we are

“Ti co nu, nu co ti” (you with us, we with you). These words still today express the affection of the populations and of the city that once constituted the “Stato da Mar” of the Serenissima Republic of Venice.

Referring to the historic attachment of the Venetian Republic territories, the Olive Park of Cappella Maggiore in the province of Treviso, in addition to enhancing the valuable oil production of its hills, intends to promote with "The oil of the Serenissima" event the valuable production of oils from the territories that included the Veneto-Friuli-Venetian Lombardy inland, the Dalmatian coasts, the Greek islands, Turkey, Crete and Cyprus.

This event aims to bring together the oil productions, to revive the richness of colors and flavors that were appreciated on the tables of the Venetian nobility.

Denis Zanette, president of “La Ruota” Association

Speech of the Mayor

Thanks to the event "The Oil of the Serenissima" the Municipality of Cappella Maggiore and “La Ruota” Association intend to enhance and promote the Olive Park of Cappella Maggiore, already included in the wider project of the Thematic-Educational Parks of the Alta Marca Trevigiana, opening up to the consolidated experiences in olive oil production of the cities and peoples who were part of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, as we are.

The Olive Park is designed to let young and old know the excellent quality of local EVO oil, the beautiful landscape of the hills on the Cansiglio slopes which have returned in recent decades to be covered with olive trees and the precious agricultural environmental value of this cultivation. Through itineraries that lead to discover experimental and educational olive groves, tasty traditional recipes, as well as EVO oil production processes in the city oil mill, we want to immerse our visitors in a unique experience that helps rediscover that deep connection with the land we have lost in the frenzy of modern life and learn about the beneficial properties of a food that is the ideal seasoning for Mediterranean diet dishes.

The event "The Oil of the Serenissima" is very rich in cultural, sensorial, culinary, educational and informative experiences that I am sure will involve and get the participants excited in the variety of wellness opportunities that our territory offers.

My heartfelt thanks go to all those who passionately contributed to organizing this complex event, both with active involvement and with financial contributions, and in particular to the Terraccottai of Montelupo Fiorentino who will honor us with their presence, their tradition and their skills.

Together we will really be able to build a small piece of "sustainability" made up of experiences, beauty and friendship.

The Mayor

Maria Rosa Barazza

Introduction by 
Dr. Gianpiero Rorato

Cappella Maggiore - a municipality in the province of Treviso at the foot of the Venetian Pre-Alps - extends over a mostly hilly area. Here the presence of the olive tree dates back to the ancient Roman times and has been preserved with alternate fortunes till today, with an increased and skillful cultivation and diffusion since the end of last century.

Nowadays, the gentle slopes of the hills that cross the whole municipal area are

characterized

by the presence of many olive groves, thanks to which the local cooperative oil mill can produce an extra virgin olive oil of great and recognized quality. And in honor of this oil mill, since the beginning of the century Cappella Maggiore has been celebrating every year a great and popular event called "The olive tree and its oil", with producers and oil millers also coming from far away.

This year the event "The olive tree and its oil" will take a new and extraordinary feature by presenting productions from all the lands that belonged to the Serenissima Republic of Venice, therefore from the Lombard hills, from Veneto, from Friuli Venezia Giulia and, along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, from Slovenia to Croatia and up to Greece, with the involvement of producers from the western coast too, as Venice imported large quantities of oil from Puglia in the past.

This year the event "The olive tree and its oil" becomes "The oil of the Serenissima", taking on a double meaning. First of all, it will remember the historical love of the Republic of Venice for olive oil which drew from the territories where the flag of San Marco flew; then it will make known - including through guided tastings - the extraordinary and healthy characteristics of the wonderful extra virgin olive oils produced in North-East Italy and in the Adriatic coast of the Balkans up to Greece. It will therefore be a great celebration with a focus on the high quality of this precious product, recalling - as you can see in the columns on the ground floor of the Doge's Palace in Venice - the value, even economic, of the friendship among the peoples who cultivate the olive tree, a tree that, together with vine and wheat, characterizes Western civilization.