Elisabetta and Savio visit the D’Aniello pottery factory, where the bottles of the famous Muraglia olive oil are produced
Puglia is world famous for its olive oil and you can see that as soon as you arrive as you are surrounded by beautiful fields of ancient olive trees. There are over 60 million olive trees in the region (14 trees per inhabitants!). To truly understand how olive is made we went to visit the Muraglia family, who have been producing olive oil for five generations.
Their oil can easily be recognised as aside from its quality, it has become a collectable piece of design as it is sold in beautifully hand-moulded and decorated jars. Our olive oil experience started from the factory where these jars are produced, the D’Aniello factory, where we met Franco, the owner, whose family has been working ceramics for over five generations.
He explained how the ceramic allows the oil to breathe better and oxidation is minimised. As we walked into the factory we were overwhelmed by the smell of terracotta. Terracotta is simply made out of water and earth and we were soon hypnotized from looking at how each piece was crafted and from how quick he was.He explained how hard it is in winter months when temperatures drops and his hands get extremely cold and soared so he needs to keep warming them up with hot water. Once shaped the ceramics are fired in the kiln for 12 hours and are then varnished and hand painted. It goes without saying that we bought quite a few bottles!
The experience continued visiting the fields where Muraglia has 40 hectares of coratina olive trees (one of the 538 classified Italian varieties of olives). Our local expert Giada explained how the trees are taken care of and how they differentiate. From the field to the mill Giada took us to the Muraglia factory in Andria where we saw the whole process. Autumn is the best period to visit as this is when the olives are picked and pressed. Our experience finished with a delicious tasting session where we learnt how to taste the oil and it was accompanied by bruschette, freshly chopped tomatoes, burrata and olives. A must-have experience for anyone who wants to get deep into the soul and flavours of Puglia.
