The Farm

....is love for Mother Earth
You can understand a face furrowed by wrinkles,
callused hands, the practical almost down-to-earth
outlook, the availability,
in short you can only understand
Peasant Culture if:
you have experienced the sweet perfume of dawn...,
the strong smell of newly tilled earth...,
the mystery and the spirituality of a grain of wheat

Francesco Urbano, the soul of Sottolestelle, is the driving force behind the company. His love for the earth, for plants, influenced his choices. We thank Francesco from the bottom of our hearts for having transmitted this love for earth to us. His advice as agronomist over the years has been invaluable. The love and enthusiasm with which he faces life are contagious. He is often seen riding his tractor around the farm, notwithstanding his being over eighty years of age!

Our farm is located in the GARGANO area, 12 Km from San Giovanni Rotondo. Our almond groves have always been farmed organically: we only use organic fertilisers (rare practice these days) Varieties cultivated: Fragiulia (soft shell) - Dura, Bianca (hard shell ) - Mollesca (very soft shell )

Cereal grains have a very important place on our farm: durum wheat, spelt, soft wheat.

Our olive trees, the real mainstay of our farm, are actual witnesses of a family history passed on from father to son. Our grandfathers played under their branches as adolescents, then our fathers did, now our children, the future inheritors of this moral and spiritual patrimony, play under those trees. We could define our oil as sincere, richly perfumed, fruity with a low acidic content ( 0.2% average), slightly bitter and spicy – in one word, extraordinary.