Mills are agoras

If olive groves are considered as the core of everything, as no olives and consequently no olive oil can be obtained without olive trees, mills are certainly no less, as they are universally recognized as the place where everything takes place.

Olive pressing indeed gives us the long-awaited oil within the mill walls, which is also the only place where one can see the most profound and expressive soul of olive juice.

This happened throughout centuries and millennia, but who knows what will occur in the future, if not even in a few years, considering constant technological innovations.

Perhaps – and who can, however, claim the opposite in total confidence? – everything will take place in the field, where olive trees lie: simultaneous fruit harvesting and pressing, oil filtration and packing. It would not be ventured guessing. Everything could be completely changed, compared to what we have seen so far.

The mill has been true to itself since the birth of art and oil production, but dramatic change is always possible. In the meantime, however, yesterday like today, the mill remains a sacred place and an agora, where one feel the sense of family, entering a sort of shared house where ideas can be exchanged, freshly-pressed oil can be tasted and one can have direct experiences with a raw material considered as “functional food” and “nutraceutical”.

Maria Carla Squeo