THE REBIRTH OF COLLI BOLOGNESI PDO EXTRA-VIRGIN OIL – part 2

The oil of the Bolognese hills, a heritage of culture, history and tradition of the hills of the province of Bologna, south of the Via Emilia

The evidence that leads back to significant olive cultivation in the Bolognese area dates back to the Middle Ages, such that we can speak of real olive growing. 

In the city center we find Via Oleari, where oil sellers' shops operated, while a short distance from the center of Monteveglio is the village of Oliveto which bears witness to the ancient agricultural activities linked to the olive tree and oil. 

At the beginning of the 1700s, due to a very cold period that lasted about a decade and called the small glaciation, the olive tree almost completely disappeared from our hilly territories. 

The reappearance of olive cultivation, also favored by climate changes and by the scientific research work carried out by CNR-IBE Institute for Bioeconomy of Bologna together with the UNIBO Faculty of Agriculture, dates back to the beginning of the 2000s. 



The centuries-old plants existing in the Bolognese area and a nursery propagation activity of the ancient native cultivars called Farneto, Montecalvo, Montebudello, Montecapra, Oliveto was started. To date, in the hilly area of ​​Bologna there are several hundred hectares of olive trees which enrich the environmental and landscape heritage and provide high quality extra virgin oils. 

In 2017, the Felsineo Extra Virgin Olive Oil Business Network was established by agricultural producers from the Bolognese area south of the Via Emilia, to protect and promote extra virgin olive oil. The Network currently associates 10 companies located in the area between Imola in the east and Zola Predosa in the west. 

Since 2021, the Network has been the owner of the collective brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Colli di Bologna and boasts a production specification that lists the agronomic, extraction, storage and packaging procedures to achieve the common objective of obtaining the PGI (typical geographical indication) .

So far, The Colli di Bologna extra virgin olive oil is De.Co.

The oil from the Bolognese hills is a heritage of culture, history and tradition of the territory of the hills of Bologna and of the metropolitan area south of the Via Emilia.