The question I am most often asked is, "How did you get started in this business?". The truth is, my husband and I bought a house in Florence and it came with an olive grove, so we decided to learn about growing, harvesting, and pressing, and with the help of many generous and knowledgable friends, we learned. Vitigliano, who had done a little gardening for us at our summer home in Italy just happened to be a multi-generational olive farmer with his own grove, and an expert on trimming olive trees. Our friends from Rome whom we had met on the beach, Alessandra and Francesco, had a brother, Roberto, who was the director of a communal olive oil press in Pistoia, close to Florence. Roberto assisted in purchasing the right mix of additional trees, and provided us with the true communal experience of pressing during the olive oil harvest. (More on that later in my upcoming blog). Some years ago we decided to purchase our own press and maintain it on-site. We gave up the beautiful communal press experience, but gained the advantage of the ability to press our olives within 24 hours of collection, resulting in low acidity and a flavorful, high quality oil.