Sagittario
For the past eight years, we have enjoyed dinner at the home of Janet Shapiro and Stefano Magazzini. Their lovely home, located close to the Tuscan town of Impruneta, is situated in a small angle of the ancient road that connects the Certaldo di Firenze with Impruneta. From their gorgeous laboratorio (workshop) a borgo nearby, they package and mail their incredible olive oils. Stefano is a fine Italian cook. His passion and talent for the Italian kitchen produce remarkable results.
The oils produced at Sagittario, and shipped to homes around the world, are among the very best in Italy and afford clients the opportunity to savor the flavor of Tuscany in their own recipes.
We can arrange for enjoy a dinner with Janet and Stefano during your own stay in the Florence area, or their experience is included as part of your time with Private Italy Tour's Venice/Tuscany tour.
SAGITTARIO Extra Virgin Olive Oil is produced in the hills just outside of Florence, Italy where the types of olives and terrain, combined with century old pruning, harvesting and modernized extraction practices, result in an exceptional quality Tuscan olive oil.
Stefano and Janet bought a small olive grove together with friends in the 70’s and began producing their own oil as a hobby, but it soon became a passion and in 1983 they created the Sagittario label. In 2001, they began shipping directly to homes and soon after the November harvest they now offer ‘olio nuovo’ and the freshness which has always been a reason to celebrate during the Sagittario season in Tuscany
Here is a lovely article about the Olive harvesting experience from a very close friend of Janet and Stefano, Susan Pollack. My thanks to Susan and to the Boston Globe (New York Times Companies) for permission to include this article.
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From The Boston Globe December 30, 2009
A Harvest For All the Senses
By Susan Pollack
EVERY winter my husband and I order freshly-pressed olive oil from our friends' farm in the hills above Florence. When it arrives we celebrate by inviting neighbors over to taste it on bruschetta, toasted bread that we've rubbed with garlic. The ritual launches our new year in Gloucester and parallels celebrations of the new oil throughout Italy in this season.
For me, the first taste of the viscous, green olio nuovo is Proustian, bringing back memories of a muddy November in the olive grove, when I became as familiar with the Tuscan earth as with the green and black fruits we were gathering in nets under ancient trees. I can feel myself reaching to spread the huge nets and marveling as they fill with olives. I hear the rustling sound of harvesters raking the branches with bright orange combs and the rhythmic plopping of the olives.
And now, as I sample the fruity oil, experience its bitter aftertaste and sharp peppery finish, I remember the frantoio: the mill where my friends Janet and Stefano take their olives to be pressed at night. The cacophony of machinery is deafening as huge stones pulverize both olives and pits; the paste is then whirled in a centrifuge that separates oil from water and then, ah, the luscious green liquid emerges. The aroma is so strong, it bites the back of your throat; you need not taste it, inhaling it is like a taste.
A memory of this sensation returns each New Year's Eve as we puncture a large rectangular tin of olive oil and inhale its vapors. Tomorrow's ritual, practiced in our home 3,000 miles from the olive groves, is our way of helping support one small family farm. I think of it as our Community Supported Agriculture venture, our CSA overseas. For our friends have helped revive what had been a dying industry. When Stefano was growing up, there was little market for olive oil.
Fortunately, his and Janet's dedication has been matched by growing international demand for olive oil, spurred by findings about its healthful anti-oxidant properties. Today the couple are helping keep alive an ancient way of life and a culinary staple on land that is now also highly valued for real estate.
