Oli Placida
The extra-virgin olive oil tradition and culture of the Placida company started in the first half of 1900 in Calabria, when Antonio Placida, born in 1909, decided to start an entrepreneurial path, building his own farm and combining the oil mill in 1949. Today the olive oil tradition is carried on by its descendants. A fundamental element rooted over the decades in the mentality and working methods of the Placida family has always been the strong attention to the quality of the product.
In 1974, his son Nicola Placida took over the complete management of the mill, starting a long phase of development and optimization of the company, marked by the mechanization of the process and the expansion of the company, which led to the transition from the traditional extraction system in 1990 to the one with a continuous cycle and a surface of about 20 hectares.
In 1997, after Nicola's premature death, the three eldest sons, Antonio, Francesco and Walter managed the company and continued the family tradition, now over half a century old. The full control of the company passed to Walter in 2000, which is responsible for continuing the process of expansion and investment initiated by his father. Walter increases the useful olive grove area from 25 hectares to about 135, on which there are about 12,000 olive trees in full production and that extends along the coast of Sellia Marina and Cropani Marina, the hills of Simeri Crichi, Soveria Simeri and Zagarise, up to Sersale and to the slopes of Borgia (all in Calabria, Southern Italy). Walter also begins the process of bottling of products, that today counts 15 different bottles.
The variety of the Placida farm lands allows to host a wide variety of olive oil trees (Carolea, Sancastrese, Ogliarola Messinese, Bella di Spagna, Biancolilla, Leccino, Dolce di Bari, just to name a few): the different characteristics of the trees are a precise family choice, which is carefully dedicated to continuous research, to develop different products in flavours and tastes, between tradition and modernity, faithful to the nutritional properties of the main product of the Mediterranean diet, the extravirgin olive oil. The Placida company still maintains a particular vocation for the production of high quality products, that is the result of the consolidated experience of three generations of olive oil masters, who have dedicated their work and resources to improve the product both in terms of quality and image, obtaining an ever-increasing level of appreciation from its customers.
In 2022 the entire infrastructure is renewed in order to maintain high quality standards and in step with the times