The name comes from the place where grandfather Peppe bought an abandoned olive grove, near the village.
Contrada Ingegnoso was born from my love for my land, Puglia, and from my passion for a product very dear to me: extra virgin olive oil.
I am from Biccari, a small village in the Monti Dauni hills, in the province of Foggia, where scents and flavours make you feel at home and the olive trees across the landscape create a unique atmosphere.
My goal: to bring out, through careful storage, the quality of an extra virgin olive oil made from olives grown and pressed in Puglia, in Biccari to be precise!
So, with the precious support of my husband Francesco, I started this project, which happened to coincide with the months of waiting for, and the birth of, our daughter, and today with the arrival of her little brother.
Becoming a mother also gave me a strong sense of responsibility towards future generations, not only towards my children. The responsibility to make, and to teach others to make, sustainable and conscious choices. The responsibility to value one’s land and the quality of its products. Awareness, sustainability and quality are the key words I started from.
“Contrada Ingegnoso” is a return to my origins: it is the name of the place where my grandfather Peppe bought an abandoned olive grove, fewer than 100 trees near the village. My mother, her sister and her brothers walked there, and saw it come back to life thanks to their hard work.
And I saw it flourish, thanks to the green thumb of my mother, Michelina, who filled it with flowers, and of my father Aurelio, who looks after the grove with passion.
I grew up among the olive trees, from the days when my sisters and I, as little girls, picked up the olives from the ground under the watchful, loving eyes of our grandparents, driven by the country habit of wasting as little as possible, while the “grown-ups” climbed ladders to pick from the branches. Today the harvest is done with shakers, handheld harvesters and the indispensable “racanelle”, the nets carefully laid under the trees to catch the freshly picked fruit, and this is what gives a quality oil. The harvest is carried out and led by my brother-in-law, Raffaele, who guarantees me healthy olives, ready for milling.
For me, the step from taking part in the harvest to choosing olive oil as the subject of my degree thesis was a short one.
You could say that the soil of Contrada Ingegnoso is the fertile ground from which the project grew: a dream come true.
Contrada Ingegnoso is my return to my land, to my Puglia, to my beloved village, Biccari, where I came back after years away and where I now live with my family. Contrada Ingegnoso is a return to the roots… of taste, in fact!
Simona
