Hills of green gold

For centuries, the Frescobaldi family has been tilling its rolling Tuscan terraces to produce celebrated wines and latterly, Laudemio olive oil, an elixir fit for a prince. By Nell Frizzell. Photographs by Lisa Linder

Beside a stone wall the colour of clotted cream, surrounded by soft mists and the pale grey silhouettes of a Tuscan grove, stands a man wearing an olivegreen jumper and olive-green trousers. His face is scored into deep lines like the stone of a peach, and he has dazzling, olive-green eyes. He holds out an electric-green olive to taste. His name is Franco Gori and he has worked on the Frescobaldi estate for more than 60 years.

Frescobaldi, a collection of 4,500 hectares of vineyards and olive groves on nine estates around Florence and Siena, is home to the famous Laudemio – one of the most expensive and prized olive oils in the world. This is not an oil with which to grease a pan; it is a thick, ancient and unsullied distillation of Italy ’s bitter fruit, bottled in the sort of elegant vessel you might see on the shelves of a perfumery. It sells for about £30 a bottle and the Prince of Wales orders his own supply every year.

On the way to the estate, Diana Frescobaldi recounts her family’s history. ‘This is the bridge my family built,’ she says, as we drive over the River Arno. Followed by, ‘Yes, we briefly went into exile when we fell out with the Medicis’; and, ‘We opened our first China office in the 13th century.’ Since medieval times, the Frescobaldis have spread their influence in Tuscany as bankers, musicians, and patrons of the arts; then as winemakers and, latterly, as the producer of Laudemio. Diana is the president of the Consorzio del Laudemio, an association of 21 growers who supply the olives, and is eager to show me how they make their ‘green gold’.

The growing conditions are crucial. It takes