With the Easter holiday recently behind us, things are busy at the Pontedassio elementary school. 19 and 20 April were the dates chosen for an initiative tied to the culture of Riviera Ligure PDO extra virgin olive oil, tailored for children in the third grade and led by teachers Silvia Viani and Graziana Gorgo. It was the natural continuation of a program begun in the second grade which included visits to local oil mills. We are, in fact, in the heart of olive oil country, where Riviera Ligure PDO oil is produced. Thus, the double lesson was based on knowledge of the product and its particular characteristics and traceability system; a circumstance that is relatively familiar to many children, sons and daughters of families who work in the context of good farming practices and the virtuous paths provided by the production chain agreement. The lesson went on to discuss historic context, exploring the dynamics that to this day define the villages scattered around the centre of the Impero Valley, of which Pontedassio is the primary municipality: dynamics that over time illustrate the progressive expansion of olive groves and which recall fascinating historical episodes in which “the olive” was always protagonist, even in the naming of places. The Olivastri settlement, in the town of Chiusavecchia, is representative of this even today. On the second afternoon, a field trip provided the opportunity to observe the historic buildings of Pontedassio and its development, influenced primarily by the cultivation of olives: from here the results of the value added to the territory by this form of agriculture. The importance of the main roads was noted, which are of commercial value between the sea and Piedmont. The paleoindustrial district created by the Doria between 600 and 800 years ago was explored, in which textile factories were found alongside mills and, above all, oil mills. This is the root of Ligurian Mediterranean agricultural history. Obviously the lessons concluded in the best way possible: a snack of bread and Riviera Ligure DOP extra virgin olive oil. The level of satisfaction with this educational activity reached its peak.
