About Prince Pignatelli di Monteroduni
Agricultural activity in the fief of Monteroduni granted to the Princes Pignatelli date to early 17th century.
During the same period (1611), our farm-house was also built.
Even today it still is the manufacturing operating site and its changes were due only to maintenance and re-modernising.
Currently, the farm property occupies a total area of 65 hectares, 25 of which are devoted to biological agriculture, together with other local expanses bringing the total to 120 hectares.
At the moment it produces about 55,500 litres of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 5,500 of which are certified as biological. This is the result of demanding and costly processing carried out according to strictly traditional methods which exalt the varieties of olives used, made even more distinct by the estate unique climatic characteristics. The land of Monteroduni is, in fact, situated in a kind of ecological niche characterized by the favourable game of opposing bioclimatic elements: the hot Mediterranean influence, determined by the region’s latitude, the mitigating influence deriving from the presence of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the rigorous influence originating from the closeness of the Mainarde and Matese Mountains. The Monteroduni Oil can therefore be found in the centre between the fluid, sweet and fruity types typical of Umbria, Marche and Abruzzi regions, and the more structured ones of the south peninsular belt which are almondy and mellow,
typical of the bordering Campania and Puglia regions.
When tasted, our Oil smells slightly fruity, with a light, pleasant fragrance of broom and delicate nuances of the artichoke and fern; it has a rounded taste, with the tonality of sweet almond, elegantly lifted by rapid sharp and well balanced spicy touches in the after-taste. As a whole, it seems mainly distinguished by the type of olive characteristic of the first of the two climatic belts, the fresher and more temperate medial area of the Penisula.
The stripping by hand of the drupes, their milling within 24 hours of being picked(therefore without the possible defects arising through storage) and the above-mentioned favourable pedo-climatic conditions of the area of cultivation, exalt the character of the olives producing an extremely low-acidity oil.
This characteristic obtained also thanks to a continuous-cycle extraction carried out with our sophisticated “Sinolea” oil-dripping plant, contributes towards making our Oil pleasantly fruity, with a balance of bitter and spicy, not aggressive to the throat, of a pleasant greeny-yellow colour with bronze hues.
A part of our Extra Virgin Olive Oil is intended for the production of seasoned oils such as Garlic-flavoured and Hot-Pepper flavoured Extra Virgin Olive Oil obtained through steeping, as well as Lemon-flavoured Extra Virgin Olive Oil obtained through the simultaneous processing of olives and Organic fresh lemons of Sorrento.
In order to guarantee the quality of production our industry avails itself of the ISO 9001:2000 certification released by TUV-Italia and of the certification for biological production released by ICEA/Aiab