Oil Mill

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Oil Mill

A 200 year long history...

I am Romolo Gentili, the last descendant of 5 generations of olive growers and current owner of Frantoio Gentili. Growing up on bread and oil in the midst of the olive groves of Upper Tuscia Laziale, I learned the trade by looking closely at the work of my ancestors and, over the years, I have learned to love this noble activity. For 200 years we have been carrying on the values of a family tradition based on craftsmanship, respect for the environment and the genuineness of the raw materials we use. We love our land and our oil is the result of the centuries-old bond that binds us to the volcanic territory of Alta Tuscia: it is precisely among these uncontaminated hills that we harvest the Caninese variety olives (70% of our olive production) and from trees to the ground by our ancestors. Today’s oil mill is very different from that of 1820, but despite its structure having been profoundly renewed, our oil always carries with it the echo and wisdom of past generations.

The birth of the oil mill

It was Giovanbattista Gentili who opened the oil mill in the historic center of Farnese, a small town in the province of Viterbo, a few steps from Lake Bolsena. At that time the millstones were pulled by mules and Giovanbattista’s enthusiasm also infected Pietro and Romolo Gentili, my grandfather.

Today I work in the new structure that I managed to build thanks to the support of my father and where, despite the difficulties, we are all growing together.

We remain faithful to the craftsmanship of our work and to tradition because it is from these ancient values that the character and quality of the extra virgin olive oil we produce take shape. Our olive groves and our oils are not only the result of the warm Mediterranean atmosphere but also incorporate the wealth of knowledge and values that the Gentili family has kept and transmitted for hundreds of years.

The post war

The great war made everything stop, but when his grandfather Romulus returned, he resumed his activity with much more passion than before. He moved the oil mill inside a cave and decided to invest in more modern systems, powered by electric and pressure motors.

It is in this oil mill that, first my father and then I, we grew up and it is here that the passion for this work has been handed down from generation to generation.

The life of the mill

My love for the trade was born when I was just 6 years old: I remember that after school, after lunch, I immediately ran to the mill to see how it worked up close. Even then I proposed to lend a hand, whenever possible I tried my hand at small tasks that I was always curious about, but I learned a lot even simply by observing the workers who worked there during their long shifts. Over the years, I began to frequent the oil mill more and more often until, when I was just nineteen, I started working there full time. In 2000 a new machine was purchased, the sinolea, an extraction plant that uses a natural dripping system, considered one of the best oil extraction methods at the moment. In 2017, Romolo decides to further modernize its oil mill by replacing the old sinolea plant, with an innovative Tecnoliva plant entirely in stainless steel that monitors the temperature in each processing process, to ensure the maintenance of all the properties of the extracted oil.

The values of Frantoio Gentili

“Be the change you want to see in the world”

THE HUMAN FACTOR

Starting from this assumption of Mahatma Gandhi, we cultivate the value of hospitality, we value human contact with the customer and we make ethics our distinctive feature.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Another cornerstone of our oil mill concerns eco-sustainability: we are committed to adopting production techniques with low environmental impact and to making use of clean energy to carry on our business. For years we have significantly reduced CO₂ emissions thanks to the introduction of photovoltaics and a bamboo production plant.

THE RECYCLABLE PACK

To celebrate the mill’s 200th anniversary, we have decided to renew the packaging of our products from a green perspective: the new labels are now completely removable and the material of all packaging can be dismantled and recycled in all its parts.

THE BIO LINE

For 15 years we have been carrying out an organic certified production line, ensuring a completely natural product free from traces of phytosanitary products.

Locality Chiusa Le Sparme snc - 01010 Farnese (VT)

+39 349 4995305

Mon – Fri 9.00 – 13.00

Sat – 10.00 – 13.00