The variety “Ascolana” – “Oliva Tenera Ascolana” (Tender Olive of Ascoli: translator’s note)  also called “Oliva Concia” (Dressed Olive: translator’s note) or “Oliva di San Francesco” (Saint Franciscus’s Olive: translator’s note) or simply “Ascolana” - is the queen of  table olives and it is also an important resource for the agriculture of Ascoli Piceno because it is the main ingredient of a delicious dish called “oliva farcita” (stuffed olive: translator’s note).

Its cultivation is spread across the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the area stretching from the River Tronto to the the River Tenna, and in the province of Teramo, from the River Vomano to the River Tronto (as described in detail in the attached “Terms and Regulations for Production”).

It can be found on plains, low slopes and hills close to the foothills of the Appenines, at an average maximum height of 500 metres (medium annual rainfall of  about 700mm).

Through time, its cultivation has extended to limited areas in Tuscany, Latium and Apulia; some plants have been sent far  away reaching Israel, Mexico, Argentina and the U.S.A.

It is a rather hardy perennial tree: its fruit is  mainly consumed while it is still green, but it can be used to produce a top quality very gentle fruity yellowish-green olive oil (100 kg/12-15 kg of oil), whose degree of acidity is very low and  whose taste is sweet and pleasant.

According to authoritative sources the “Ascolana” olive, together with other fruits, dried figs and cooked wine from Ascoli Piceno, has been well known and appreciated since ancient times, especially by ancient Romans, who were said to esteem  its quality and delicacy.

The existence of table olives in the area of Ascoli Piceno is confirmed by prehistoric relics found  in some caves of a hill called San Marco situated near the town. Latin classic writers called this fruit “Picena”, but later on its name changed and became “Ascolana Tenera”.

Pliny considered olives coming from Ascoli top rate and the oil made with them the best ever produced: during that time Ascoli supplied  the Romans with  vegetables, wine and olives. It is said that during a feast given by Trimalcione, Nero had them as a starter and they gave him an amazing appetite.

Pliny regarded the “Ascolana” olive as a remedy to cure renal gravel and dental cavities; Palladio suggested different ways of dressing them and indicated how to make a tasty olive sauce, while Marcus Varro described a suitable techinque for its conservation.

Martial had a weakness for those olives, too, in fact he would eat them before and after his meals. He also described the containers used for the conservation and the transport of the “colymbades” (this is how  big green olives floating in water were called).

Columella in his book on agriculture “De re rustica” listed different varieties of table olives among which the “Picena” (possibly the olive of Ascoli Piceno, that is the “Ascolana”).

In 1583 Pope Sixtus V, together with princes and cardinals, expressed its appreciation for the olives of Ascoli and it seems that the Pope himself  wanted them to be sent to the Vatican.

In 1877, Coutance defined the Piceno area as “la terre promise de l’olivier” (the promised land of the olive tree: translator’s note) in his work “L’Olivier”.

Various writings describe the first process of elimination of the olives bitter taste (“deamarizzazione”) carried out by the monks of the Benedictine Monastery of  Sant’Angelo Magno using a solution of water and ash.

Garibaldi, Rossini, Carducci and Giacomo Puccini also expressed their appreciation for the delicious big olives.

Agronomist Mariano Mazzocchi was among the citizens of Ascoli  who better managed to organize the first boasting olive industry (allowing producers to obtain a satisfactory remuneration) and to advertise significantly the product itself. From Valle Venere, where he lived, he did his best to promote this product in other parts of Italy, sending out trees and other material necessary for propagation.

At that time, many farmers cultivated the “Ascolana” and carried out the process of the elimination of its bitter taste for private consumption only and various families had already created small factories for the processing of green olives (among them we can mention the Nardini-Saladini, Balena, Prosperi, Camilli, etc.).

  Thanks to the intervention of  Engineer Mazzocchi, S. Meletti and others, the delicious fruit, known as “oliva concia” (dressed olive: translator’s note) took part in the  National Exibition of Milan in 1881 and in  the Roman Exibition of Fruit and Plants in 1887.

These as well as other  writings depict Ascoli Piceno as an area where both the cultivation of the precious olives and the processing techniques to sweeten and preserve them are comparable to a skillful form of art.