In the deep south of Sicily, among hills that slide down to the sea and turn into sand, my grandparents’ grandparents began to cultivate olive trees.
It was the late 1800s and their stories, along with their labours, were handed down to my grandparents, Anna Maria and Lillo; now, thanks to their support, it is my turn to look after them.
I am Alessia Filippazzo, and in October 2021 I decided to start the Radica farm in order to valorise what has belonged to our family for generations and to realise a dream we have shared for a long time.
The name “Radica”, a Sicilian word meaning ‘root’, was chosen to evoke the link with the land and the traditions of the past.
CUSTODY
The care of the land and the olive trees follows ancient knowledge and traditions: the olives are picked by hand without the invasive use of mechanical tools.
We pick the olives one by one, selecting the best ones and discarding those that have already deteriorated.
This precise company choice aims to keep the physical and chemical properties of the olive and oil intact, thus avoiding stress to the tree and the fruit.
Quality
The timing and methods of milling, together with manual harvesting, are what characterise the quality of our extra virgin olive oil.
Our olives are pressed daily at the end of each harvesting day to prevent the fruit from deteriorating and aging rapidly.
For our oil we have also chosen cold extraction, a process that allows us to extract the extra virgin olive oil while maintaining the organoleptic characteristics thanks to constant temperature control, which must not exceed 27°C.
Roots
The olive tree spread across Europe from Sicily in ancient times.
Over the millennia, its cultivation has taken on not only economic, but above all cultural importance for our territory.
In our extra virgin olive oil there is all the taste, smell and image of our land – Sicily – which still knows how to keep alive the infinite narrations and roots that have shaped it.