Agricola Maraviglia

Francesco Piattelli Palmarini grew up surrounded by a hundred olive trees on what is now the Maraviglia farmhouse. He left, spent fifteen years abroad and then came back to reconnect with the land. What he found when he returned was an industry in quiet decline: historic olive groves across the province of Arezzo being abandoned season after season, with no one making them viable again.

Agricola Maraviglia began with the restoration of those abandoned Tuscan olive groves, bringing ancient trees back into production and preserving a disappearing agricultural landscape. The estate itself dates back almost 400 years, and some of the trees survived the catastrophic frost of 1985, regenerating from the stumps and now recognisable by their split trunks.  The farm has since been recognised as a Slow Food Presidia- a designation reserved for producers protecting food traditions at genuine risk of disappearing.

Harvest begins in October when olives are still green and naturally rich in polyphenols, picked by hand and cold-extracted within hours to preserve freshness and nutritional value. The result is a single-estate early harvest oil- a blend of Frantoiano,a blend of Frantoiano, Morellino, and Leccino cultivars, with a fourth variety, Biancaccio, acting as a natural pollinator. It has won gold at the New York International Olive Oil Competition three years running.

What makes Maraviglia unusual is what else they're doing with the land. The farm is now expanding into soil regeneration, growing heirloom grains and legumes including Cece Fiorentino- a local chickpea variety dating back to Florentine Renaissance times- as part of a crop rotation programme designed to restore microbial balance to the soil. Practices include no tilling, no external fertilisers, selective composting, and humus teas brewed from two hectares of on-farm forest. These grains go into small-batch super rare miso, tamari, and shoyu- fermented condiments that are as unexpected as they are good, and entirely grown and made on the same six hectares.

Francesco puts it plainly: a limit on the size of the operation is what allows it to be truly sustainable, and he believes it's the only way quality agricultural work can actually be done. Hard to argue with that when you taste the oil.

Why we love Agricola Maraviglia

We love their honesty, their story, but also their ability to experiment and grow. They stay true to their commitment of regenerative farming and sustainability, and are practicing this in every aspect of their production.