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Italy 2023: Camminata tra gli ulivi (Walk among the olive trees)

Paul's 2nd cousin Alizia invited us to join them in a Walk Among the Olive Trees on Monteciccardo. The walk was part of a nationwide promotional day for celebrating olives and olive trees, with other walks scattered around the country. We would certainly not have known about this even if Alizia had not included us. From left to right in this picture are Roberto (Alizia's husband), Alizia, Paul, and Anne.

Four people standing in front of grape vines on a sunny day with some clouds in the blue sky.

The walk started at the Conventino, or convent. As you would guess with the name, this building was once a convent. Alizia's mother lived here in the 1900s after it was converted to housing. It is now owned by the city and used for various events. We showed some pictures in Monteciccardo from the previous week on this page, and mentioned that we had been looking for Carlo, a man we had met in 2018. When we went inside the convent building, we saw Carlo! Here he and Anne are standing next to a honey vendor display. The picture is taken from the other side of the interior courtyard. He did not remember us, and seemed to think it very strange that these two tourists came up to him and called him by name.

A man and a woman seen through an open arched window that is in a stone wall.

The walk literally was among the olive trees; here the participants are starting off and heading into the olive grove. On the right of the picture is a man in a vest and white pants, holding a television camera. He is from RAI, the national broadcasting company of Italy. Presumably it was on the local or regional news.

People walking away from the viewer, many with small backpacks. To the right are some grape vines and the people are walking towards some olive trees.

Alizia among the olive trees:

Alizia is wearing large sunglasses, black athletic clothing, and a neck scarf. Behind her are olive trees that are not too much taller than her.

The route on which they took us was 3 miles long and had a lot of up and down. They had some educational speakers talking about different varieties of olives and probably many other things, but they were difficult to hear and were speaking in Italian, so we did not have any chance of understanding them.

Looking down a hill between rows of olive trees.

Here Paul, Roberto, and Alizia are heading up. In the next picture Paul and Roberto are talking. That was a bit of a challenge because Roberto's English is limited and Paul's Italian is limited.

Paul, Roberto, and Alizia walking towards us. Another man is on the right ready to take a picture. Olive trees are on both sides of the path, and grape vines can be seen in the distance.

A number of walk participants, including Paul and Roberto, with olive trees around them.

In addition to olives and grapes, we encountered bee hives on our walk. There were at least 25 hives. You can see a barrier across the entrance to keep larger pests away from the bees.

A natural wood beehive, with a large yellow paint spot on it and some bees gathered near the hive entrance. A second hive, painted yellow, sits next to it.

The walk provided a nice view of the Conventino. It has a typical square shape with a central courtyard. Behind the building is a small cemetery.

Some olive trees are in the foreground with large old stone building a bit further. In the distance are rolling agricultural fields.

The walk also gave some good views of Monteciccardo city center and the city wall. The land approaching the city from this direction looks so steep the wall almost seems superfluous.

Looking through some trees, a tilled sloped field can be seen in front of a high wall with multistory townhouse buildings behind that.

The olive groves near Monteciccardo are fairly extensive.

Looking down the aisle between two rows of olive trees, which go up a hill and out of sight into the blue sky with white clouds.

The sign in this next picture says Olive Mill Millstone. The large stone was at one point used to crush olives for the oil.

A large white circular stone with a square slot in the middle sits among some olive trees.

For a bit, our path followed a dirt road where we came upon a chapel. It is dedicated to a saint, although we are not certain which one. Carlo told us that the chapel is basically used only 1 day a year, on the festival of that saint. There is a large festival and a nearby house that has a large flat lawn area opens it up to the activities.

Anne and others outside of a tall but narrow stone chapel with a dirt walkway up to it.

Paul and Carlo chatted some more along the walk. We don't know how old Carlo is, but the word spry comes to mind. He did the entire walk, which was not particularly easy, and he had at least 10 years on us.

People walking on a white gravel curved road with greenery on each side

Some friends of Roberto and Alizia were also on the walk with us. Walking next to Roberto is Ettore. Both Roberto and Ettore are retired firemen.

Two men walking down a white gravel road. Paul can be seen behind them. There is a field on the right and bushes on the left. It is a sunny day.

Flat areas are not the norm in this area of Marche. Tilling the fields seem to require a certain technique of making sweeping turnarounds to tackle the next row.

A large field is in the middle of the picture that has a noticeable slant to it, and there are tractor trails along it and a tractor can be seen driving in the field.

The soil here at first glance looks rocky, but it seems to be caked soil, perhaps with a large amount of clay in it. We have read on wine sites that the Marche tends to have "Calcareous, clay and limestone-rich soils".

Paul standing on a sloped field next to a tilled area that reveals chunky soil.

The young man on the far left of this next picture was one of the people who spoke during the walk. The machine in the photo is used for harvesting olives. It has two short arms that go around the trunk of the tree and clamp against it. Then the green netting is raised. The machine is then turned on and shakes the tree, dislodging the ripe olives into the collection area of the machine. This contrasts with the more manual method we saw on our last visit, with the netting on the ground and people holding smaller pole-mounted versions that shake individual branches. The region's olive harvest this year was exceptionally low. There was too much rain early, and then too much heat.

The machine described above sits in front of olive trees.

The back of the olive shaking machine, showing the two padded arms.

After the walk was a lunch. There were some serving tables set up in front of the conventino, while cooking was being done inside the building. We had a cheese & meat plate (minus the meat), polenta (minus the meat sauce), piadini (the regional flat bread), and a cream of pumpkin soup. It was a very enjoyable meal.

A large stone wall of the old convent building with a line of people going towards a couple of tables. In front are some tables for participants to eat at.

Plates of cheese, soup, and polenta in front of a small pitcher of wine and some plastic cups.

Paul sitting at a table with a spoon and a bowl of soup.

Here is our group, other than Paul who was taking the picture: Anne, Alizia, Ettore, then starting across from Ettore and coming back towards the viewer is Paula, (you can just see Manuela,) Roberto, and Paolo. In front is Ade, the dog of Paula and Ettore.

A long orange folding table with people sitting on each side, and food on the table. It is one a lawn.

Part of the event had entertainment and vendors inside the convent building. There were some people weaving little baskets. There was also this adorable little chick.

A courtyard with two walls of the stone building visible. A couple women are leaning against the wall; one of them is weaving. There are a number of other people visible as well.

A little black chick on a stone wall, with a bit of bread crumbs in front of it. Some people can be seen in the distance on the other side of the courtyard.

After, the nearby Cantina di Conventino had a tour and tasting. They make wine and olive oils. The tour was for the olives. Their entrance area is pretty.

A gravel road with a simple wood fence and many olive trees. In the distance are rolling hills with agricultural fields.

Anne is standing in front of an olive tree. The trees look rather young. An early evening sky is visible.

Some of our group waiting for the tour. Roberto, Ettore, Anne (barely visible), Alizia, another person that they know, and Paolo.

People standing on a paved area with some containers and olive trees in the background.

This picture was taken during the tour. The man in the hat looks like he could be a relative of Paul (although as far as we know, he is not).

A group of people listening to a man talking inside the olive processing area of the cantina.

Here we are waiting for the tasting: Paula, Ettore, Alizia, Manuela, Paulo, Roberto, and Paul (with Anne taking the picture).

People sitting at a table; behind them are large glass doors leading out of doors.

The autumn grape vines are very pretty.

A vineyard with some of the vines having turned to autumn colors sooner than others.

After the tasting was over, we were invited to join them at Paulo's and Manuela's house. They have converted the house into a bed and breakfast, Il Fiore e la Farfalla (the flowers and the butterfly). The house is a large old building that was once a granary. Paulo has done a lot of work on the house, and it is in fantastic shape. They have 7 bedrooms, including where they stay. He has planted olive trees, fruit trees, and other plants around the property.

A two story long stone house with lights on the exterior of the house. Two men and a dog are standing in front of an open door into the house. There are some chairs stacked on the patio, and trees on each side of the yard.

It was fun for us to see their social gathering. They made us feel very welcome. They ordered pizzas, which we ate in the large dining area. This next picture has Alizia, Ettore, Manuela, Paul, and Roberto.

Five people standing around a large table, with 5 pizzas and a few bottles of beer on the table. Each of 8 seats has a place setting in front of it.

The pizzas. You can see that they ordered a Rossini (with eggs and mayonnaise) as well as a variety of other pizzas.

8 pizzas on a white tablecloth with glasses and bottles

And now the pizza is mostly gone. There were a few French fries as well for those who were interested. From left to right: Alizia, Manuela, Paolo, Roberto, Paola, Ettore, and Paul (and the tale of the dog Ade).

7 people sitting around the table with one empty chair. Pizza boxes with some pizza left, empty beverage bottles, and glasses on are the table. There are a couple paintings on the wall, sturdy wood beams along the ceiling, and a cabinet with dishes and bottles in it. Through an open entry can be seen another large room.