Since 2013, the Consorzio di Tutela Olio Extravergine DOP Riviera Ligure has also become a de facto olive grower. The Oliveto of the Riviera Ligure stands in the area of Lucinasco, the centre of a district with uninterrupted olive-growing terraces. This is where we carry out traditional management techniques as well as innovative activities such as targeted fertilization, careful pruning, restoring dry stone walls and disposing of pruning residues with a shredder. Thanks to simple, continuous, yearly interventions, the olive grove has always been productive. After the remarkable 2020-2021 season, there were positive signs for the next year. As mentioned, the management of olive trees always allows for new blossoms. Fruit setting – when flowers turn into fruits – is the most delicate phase. Success rate and yields are not high, not to forget about the impact of weather conditions, which call for a good, slightly windy climate, neither cold nor wet. Unfortunately, the opposite happened in June 2021 and the area suffered from cold mists. A phenomenon that creeps into the valleys, macaja as they say in Genoa and the surrounding area, that is anything but good for fruit set. So, a potentially discreet production is almost nil. Climate change has undoubtedly had an impact: in the 1900s, no cold fog entered the valleys of western Liguria in June. The Azores’ anticyclone dominated, with warm, breezy weather. This is exactly what we have been lacking, while the African anticyclone, even in June, alternates between very hot days and retreats with humid evaporations from the sea, backed up by northern coolness. This poses new challenges for olive growing. In the end, we decided not to pick the few olives on the trees. They will fall and turn to compost, in the eternal circular system of Nature. Fingers crossed for 2022-2023…
