Olivo della Madonna Rediscovering Calabria’s Mystical White Olives
BY ELENA VALERIOTE
DECEMBER 7, 2022
Archaeologist and native Calabrian Dr. Anna Maria Rotella first heard
about the Olivo della Madonna, an ancient white-olive cultivar, in 2017,
while working at an archaeological excavation site in Catanzaro. Due to their
stunning appearance, locals have long called them the Olive Trees of the
Madonna.
Later that year, she saw an Olivo della Madonna for the first time. The
tree was about 50 years old and adorned in abundant, resplendent white olives.
“I understood then the sense of the sacred,” says Rotella. “Any Calabrian that
has the fortune of encountering one does not see anything that appears
different from the other olive trees for the whole year, then one day passes by
again and they perceive the transformation.”
“No, not the transformation,” she muses, after a pause. “But the magic,
the miracle of this thing that should be black, but instead becomes white.”
Rotella explains that, historically, many Calabrians have felt deeply
connected to religious stories of survival. Such tales give them strength to
get through the enormous hardships—from earthquakes to mafia corruption—that
have afflicted them throughout the ages. Given this religiosity, the prodigio
(an Italian word that can mean “miracle,” “marvel” or “wonder”) of a
white-fruiting olive tree “could not be anything but sacred to our
great-grandfathers and farmers,” says Rotella.
Exactly how many generations of Calabrians have beheld the Olivo della
Madonna remains unclear. “There are no written texts because ours is an oral
tradition,” says Rotella. But they have always been rare: Only a few living
Calabrian elders have memories of the trees.
It is possible that the Olivo della Madonna has been growing in
scattered spots throughout the Mediterranean for thousands of years. To date,
Rotella has identified about 120 of these trees growing around Calabria, the
oldest of which began to grow around three centuries ago.
Sources/Links:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/white-olives
https://www.frantoionline.it/olivo-della-madonna/
https://www.calabriaportal.com/ulivi-calabresi/4832-olivo-bianco-leucolea.html
https://www.italianostra.org/news-nazionali/olivo-della-madonna-ecco-la-mappatura-in-calabria/
http://ilgiardinodellemeraviglie.info/bioarchivio/ulivo-della-madonna-o-dei-santi/
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