BIANCHINI
EVOlution
Region: Lazio
Village: Tuscania (Viterbo)
Cultivars: Caninese, Sinopolese, Nocellara
Size: About 1500 trees, all in the Tuscia Viterbese, producing about 5000 liters annually.
Minds Behind: Rosa Bianchini and Giorgio from Sicily
Rosa and Giorgio might be only 3-4 years older than our own children.
Exuberant, energetic, and youthful, theirs is a project worthy of your continued attention. And it began just 2 years ago, with a backstory that is part comedy, part history, and part romance.
Let’s see if we can get across to you how sweet it is.
It all started with an internship in Milan, in a giant office, at a huge company. A far cry from the tiny tasting room / office heated by olive tree cuttings from the orchard.
Giorgio's background is environmental engineering, and hers is in data and process analysis. It was 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Just like most of us, they went to work masked. Giorgio was immediately smitten! Slyly, he invited Rosa to lunch. It was the only way he could think of to see her face. Over that first meal in the company canteen, she mentioned she had not yet found lodging. Taking a chance, Giorgio suggested she and her friend move into the two empty rooms in his apartment. Six months later, they were more than just flatmates.
During their coutship, they visited an olive oil producer and enjoyed a tasting together. Rosa casually mentioned that her family owned olive groves in Calabria and Lazio and that it had been the family business for 3 generations, having been founded by her great-grandfather, Michelangelo.
"Why are you just now telling me this?" exclaimed Giorgio.
He was immediately hooked on the idea that they must do something with Rosa’s family business. She was the only possible heir, and otherwise the groves would be sold and would likely disappear. With an approving nod from her father Michele, Michelangelo’s grandson, they hatched a plan to carry on the family legacy on a modern level. They began by caring for their groves in the Tuscia Viterbese, all located between Lake Bolsena and Rome. And although they employed modern techniques, they approached their business with a timeless adage from Rosa’s grandfather, Saverioo – ”I would never give people what I wouldn’t eat.”
With that in mind, Rosa and Giorgio left their jobs in Milan and relocated to the quaint village of Tuscania. They purchased half an old farm building in the middle of one of their orchards, and set up their agricultural camp. It’s all pretty simple. They farm 800 trees on 3 different sites, own a couple of tractors, and do most of the work on evenings and weekends. (they both still have day jobs)
Their first harvest in 2023 was a bit of a disaster. Unfavorable weather and a complicated growing season yielded just 100 liters. But 2024 was a different story, and their first commercial harvest was flawless. We purchased a couple liters from that harvest for our home use, and had our own ‘love at first sight’ moment. What we tasted was pristine and delicious. Olivette was just a nascent idea at that time, so we patiently decided to circle back together following the 2025 harvest. And that’s where we are today.
The result of the 2025 harvest was gorgeous but tiny. Rosa and Giorgio produced a grand total of just 3,500 liters of oil, and from only one local cultivar - Caninese. The quality surpassed 2024, so we grabbed nearly 10% of their entire production.
Caninese is a locally important cultivar that has been shown to exist since Etruscan times. The resulting oil is a deep green color and features an herbaceous (fresh oregano) aroma from the start. We would call it medium in terms of bitterness and spiciness, with both elements in lovely balance. We’ve used it recently to prepare a citrus olive oil cake (from lemons picked from the tree gracing their tiny tasting room), and to liven up a celery root and apple salad that is a winter staple in our house. You’ll find loads of ways to use this one, as it's versatile for both cooking and finishing.
The day after we pulled the truck out of their gravel driveway with our order, they created a pop-up on their website saying the entire harvest was now sold out.
So what do a couple of engineers add to the world of small-production olive oil?
Rosa and Giorgio came up with a project they call #EVOlving to help revolutionize and modernize the world of Extra Virgin Olive oil production. Put simply, Bianchini has been designed to be a “smart” company. They've installed an xFarm weather station in their groves from which they can monitor the environmental parameters of the olive trees in real time. Data collection and constant monitoring will help them get ahead of disease and pests, and more easily analyze data reports. Most importantly, this type of precision agriculture should minimize physical intervention in the field while fully preserving the biodiversity of the olive groves. Spontaneous herbs, attractive to pollinators, can fulfil their task without the disruption of humans stomping or rolling over them.
So yeah, traditional farming is done with a lot of instinct and intuition, but Rosa and Giorgio are committed to introducing some modern thought and evidence-based decision-making into their process as well.
Delicious oils from two forward-thinking, adorable humans.
