Lake Garda Olive Oil Festival Highlights Research, Conferences, and Tours
A fair, a conference, and guided tours of the oil mills to further showcase Lake Garda’s olive oil and its organoleptic properties, appreciated and valued across Europe. These will be the highlights of the fifth edition of the “Festa dell’oliva” (Olive Festival), scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in the lakefront area. “This year, too,” explained Torri’s mayor Alberto Vedovelli, “this event, which started just four years ago at the initiative of then-councilor Giorgio Consolini—who remains involved in the organization—, is full of interesting new features. The spirit of the event has always been to promote and enhance the lake towns’ flagship product, which is olive oil—especially now that it has received a major international recognition, the Dop mark (denomination of protected origin, ed.), from the European Community.”
Program and activities
The program has been designed to “combine the most technical aspects, relating to the characteristics of the olive oil and the olive trees, with an exhibition and a conference for industry professionals, alongside a more tourist-oriented and engaging activity, which includes the tasting of bruschetta with Garda olive oil and guided tours of the oil mills,” as explained by officials from the municipal offices. The event will kick off on Saturday morning at 9:00 in the council chamber of the Castello scaligero, with the conference featuring speakers such as Professor Giorgio Bargioni, who participated in previous editions, along with technicians Paolo Vanzo and Sergio Spada, secretary of the Alpe association, which represents small oil producers.
“The main topics of the conference will be ‘The main aspects of modern olive growing,’ ‘Granular and foliar fertilization of the olive tree,’ and finally, ‘Dop oil: start, certification, and future development,'” they explained. “However, outside of the program,” the mayor added, “there will likely also be discussions on the so-called ‘olive fly,’ an insect that has been damaging oil production for several years—especially in the high Garda towns of Torri, Brenzone, and Malcesine—and caused significant problems for olive growers last season.”
Indeed, two years ago, remedies for combating the olive fly without “poisoning” the production were discussed during a meeting in Brenzone, where public authorities and olive growers formed a task force to address the issue. Among the guests was also the Verona deputy of the Christian Democratic Center, Ettore Peretti, who was previously director of the Agriculture Office of the Comunità Montana.
Peretti had previously been involved through numerous parliamentary questions to the Minister of Agriculture and interventions at the European Union to protect the interests of Garda olive oil producers and to have olive oil recognized with the prestigious Dop mark. In addition to the traditional display of agricultural tools and machinery—such as the well-known “scarioni” (ladder-like picking aids), tractors, boots, and everything else useful for olive growers—there will also be a competition sponsored by the provincial Department of Culture.
In fact, all elementary and middle schools in the province of Verona were invited to participate in the contest, which revolves around the theme of the olive tree, with the aim of winning a prize of two million lire—offered as awards for the top three entries. Lastly, it is worth recalling the event scheduled for Friday evening at 5:00 PM in the museum’s council chamber, just hours before the weekend dedicated to the olive begins. During this event, the official presentation of the video about Benaco, produced by the Comunità del Garda, titled “Suggestions on the Lake,” will take place, aimed at promoting tourism to the area, including in foreign markets.