Meeting with our expert guide and visit to Albenga, a seaside town and fruit and vegetable production center. The historic center preserves the Roman urban layout of the ancient city of the "Liguri Inganni", and boasts valuable medieval monuments. We climb towards the archaeological area and the Via Julia Augusta, taking the route leading to Monte Bignone (over 500 meters). The guided tour passes by the ruins of a necropolis of Roman origin, which convey a feeling of ghostly stillness in stark contrast with the enchanting island of Gallinara, in the background, a jewel set in the sea.
The guided tour continues towards the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia, an ancient Marian sanctuary whose construction began in the 17th century, still a destination for pilgrimages today. Free lunch. Followed by a visit to an Ancient Oil Mill that has been located within the medieval walls of the city of Albenga for over 100 years! It is still today the place where the family produces the cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil “mosto” and where it sells all the specialties of Ligurian cuisine that it produces, in full respect of the artisanal process and without the addition of additives and preservatives.
What makes the Frantoio one of the most spectacular places in the area is its location inside the medieval walls, which in turn merge with other walls of Roman origin. Under the vaulted ceilings it is possible to find old agricultural tools, jars, presses, objects, that Nino collected over the years, and photos of olive trees, without forgetting the unmistakable smell of the processing of olives.
The processing of oil also had to, obviously, adapt to EEC directives: for this reason the old millstones have remained only for display, to make room for technology, which is now the protagonist of oil production. Next to the mill there is also the Olive Oil Museum, strongly desired by the family of the owners and entirely dedicated to the Civilization of oil: in these spaces you can see and touch the entire history of one of the oldest and most important jobs in the Liguria region. Today the Museum is connected to the mill via an underground tunnel: this has created a single space entirely dedicated to the world of oil and its production. It houses the entire history of the civilization of oil, but also a lot of contemporary art, from painting, through sculpture, to photography; in these rooms, in fact, the owners offer artists the opportunity to exhibit their works.
The museum has hosted people of the caliber of Federico Moccia, Antonio Ricci and Vittorio Sgarbi.
