Azienda Agricola Gaia

Region: Abruzzo

Company name: Azienda Agricola Gaia

Location: Città Sant’Angelo – Pescara

Historical context and birth of the company

In 2006 Marina Isabella Lucchi decides to leave the urban chaos to devote herself to the slower rhythms of the countryside. With her husband she built a house in Città Sant’Angelo, among centuries-old olive trees. And this is how the adventure of what is now the Azienda Agricola Gaia begins.

Ms. Lucchi immediately became an agricultural entrepreneur and began to try her hand at olive growing to produce her own extra virgin olive oil. He chooses respect for the earth, does not use chemicals, and lives in harmony with the pauses and expectations of nature. He takes his first steps between collections, rows at the mills, tastings. And he discovers that those trees abandoned for many years, after new care and attention, respond by giving precious fruits.

The land is increasing, new ones are added in Città Sant’Angelo and Loreto Aprutino. In this way, the commitments and sacrifices that are behind an artisan business, the product of which is shared with family and friends, also grow.

After years of an exclusive and solitary relationship with her olive trees, Ms. Lucchi also involves her daughter, Giulia Grilli, in the business, who begins to take care of the brand, marketing and production lines.

“We take care of these wonderful plants to make sure that our oil can best express the identity of the Abruzzo region.”

Giulia & Marina

To date, the company is undergoing organic conversion and owns seven hectares with six hundred olive trees between Città Sant’Angelo and Loreto Aprutino.

The varieties are: Dritta, Leccino, Frantoio and Castiglionese.

The olive harvest takes place with the help of olive harvesters in the period from late September to mid-October; within the following 12 hours they are taken to the Oil mill, in a continuous two-phase cycle, by Claudio Di Mercurio in Penne – the best oil mill in Italy in 2019 according to Gambero Rosso.

There are two production lines:

• Olivia, monovarietal from Dritta with the DOP Aprutino Pescarese certification. It was born among the olive trees of Loreto Aprutino and tells the territory in its fullness.
• Levante, a blend of Leccino, Frantoio and Castiglionese, with the addition of a little Dritta. It is the expression of the wild countryside of Città Sant’Angelo.
  In 2020, in full pandemic crisis, but with a high quality product, Giulia and Marina make their first entry into the quality market and meet Oliocentrica which, first, and with great honor, decides to represent them.