August: time to observe the olive groves of Riviera Ligure. It is the culture of the Ligurian olive grower to talk about the year ahead for six months, and to talk about the current year for another six months. It is a cliché in literature, the memory of the foreigners who discovered the Riviera in the late nineteenth century. The words of Giovanni Ruffini. Dictated by experience. And we talk about our olive grove, like our fathers did, our grandfathers and theirs before that. It is the “land of my father”. And they observed the olives in August, just like we have. And we will show them to you, tree by tree. What has happened? What is the situation? A winter with just a few cold days was followed by an averagely rainy spring, with some clear, ventilated sunny days too. Ideal for the olive grove. Plenty of blossoms, after a year of rest for the trees. And setting only barely affected by a few downpours. An average number of flowers have turned to fruit. Care of our olive grove, with pruning, fertilising and copper, has been regular. The summer, as we know in half of Europe, has been hot – very hot, African. The result is what you see, in these pictures. Large, plump olives, the Taggiasca species at its best. It looks like the harvest will be good, but we need to see what rain the autumn brings. Enjoy the stroll now though: our olives greet you. They have started to tan, you can see the sun embrace them. Ligurian sun – full and warm. For the ripening process, or change of colour, make sure you follow us…
