EXTRA VIRGIN OIL FROM MASSAROSA AND SERAVEZZA

The beautiful hills of Versilia overlook the sea but also the Gods of Olympus. Because they are covered with olives that originated from Athena’s head. The extra virgin oil from Versilia has, among very few in Italy, the Controlled Denomination of Origin. Extra virgin oil which has less than one degree of acidity comes from local oil mills within the protected area of Lucca, one of the capitals in the world for the production of oil. The most common cultivar is the oil mill, where the plants cover 90% of the olive land surface, the rest has small oak trees. Something not to miss, a soup made of farro (spelt) from Garfagnana dressed with newly pressed oil that has just been produced, maybe from a farm dating back from early times in Massarosa. But it only needs a drop of oil from the Versilia to enhance a simple but splendid seafood salad too with fish caught off our shores. The easiest way to try the extra virgin oil, however, from Massarosa to Seravezza via Camaiore and Pietrasanta, is to taste the fettunta, a recipe that could be defined as almost Franciscan. Take some Tuscan unsalted bread, toast it and pour a little oil on top. It used to be the most popular snack also for picnics in the county. There's who enriches it by rubbing garlic on the bread, or who prefers an even richer version of the bruschetta rubs a mature tomato on the toasted bread and dresses it with oil and salt. In each way you sample typical and genuine Tuscan cuisine: simplicity and great ingredients.