An olive tree standing tall on a tractor adorned with fiscoli, discs used in olive mills during the pressing, stood alone near the medieval church of Spello, Santa Maria Maggiore. For the two days of Spello’s beloved olive oil festival, that tractor and others would roll through the backstreets, locals playing instruments and singing on the trailer and others singing and dancing in the street.
The songs in Umbrian dialect called cantarecchia (sing by ear) animated the festivities, celebrating the pressing of the olio nuovo (new olive oil). Mills all over central Italy were working long hours daily on pressing, mostly in November, though some pressing started in October this year. Early maturation was due to the extreme heat here this summer.
When Pino and I had harvested our olives in the late 1970’s, pressing was often in December and we sometimes lit fires in the olive grove while picking to periodically warm our frozen hands. This year, we too harvested in early November.
At the end of November, we headed to Spello for the medieval gems’ celebration, la Festa dell’Olio e Sagra della Bruschetta. We arrived in late morning, hoping to find spots for the festa lunch in one of the medieval taverns of the three districts of Spello called terzieri.
Near Santa Maria Maggiore, we headed to la Taverna Terziere Porta Chiusa. All around, families shared the menu fisso of the festa. For just 22 Euro, the menu included antipasto, wines, a choice of polenta or a pasta dish, choice of snails or a pork roast with wild greens, a dessert paired with dessert wines, and more.
Just outside la taverna, un barbiere in 19th century dress was trimming beard and hair for a client – one of many scenes that day linked to the festa. While that barber snipped away at his beard and mustache, a smiling Signor Betti explained to us that in the past the local barbiere ambulante (traveling barber) always prepared the local signori in towns and in the countryside for celebrations with a good trim. This barber’s equipment was on a bicycle nearby as local women watched approvingly. A tractor which would carry singers for the afternoon events was parked nearby, olive tree enthroned in the center, ornamented with salami, capocolli and oranges hanging off the branches, with wine flasks and water jugs.
As I was taking Pino’s picture near the tractor, local singers and dancers passed adding a joyous note to the celebrations. We headed for the food stands in front of the nearby church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Bruschetta drizzled with the olio nuovo was offered for about a euro, accompanied with a cup of vino rosso.
It is safe to say that Spello’s Festa dell’Olio e Sagra della Bruschetta was a memorable event.
