The hot summer is over, the days are getting shorter, and the autumn sun is shining on ripe olives. It’s olive harvest season in Italy, Greece and Spain, and one of the best times to travel for a sustainable vacation. The olive harvest is a wonderful opportunity to sample local produce, support farmers’ cooperatives, and connect with locals. Here we highlight special olive varieties and eco-friendly accommodations in Italy and on the Canary Islands. By the way, I try to pickle olives myself every year – it’s actually easy – but harder than you think!

Fun facts about the olive

• The olive is botanically a fruit, not a vegetable.
• Green and black olives grow on the same tree – the black olives just hang on longer.
• Olives are typically harvested in October. Many farmers wait for the first rain to fall.
• The oldest olive tree in the world is not known. There are several contenders in Greece and Palestine, and the trees are said to be between 2,000 and 5,000 years old (as you can see, the information is very imprecise.) One thing is certain: there are still trees in whose shade even the Romans sat!

Olio Olivia Olive harvest festival in Italy

Italy is considered the country with the vastest variety of olives. There are said to be over 500 different varieties, and each region has its own specialties. Now, at harvest time, you can see the fresh fruits on the markets all over the country, the oil presses are in full operation, and you can taste fresh olives oil and, of course, pickled olives in many places.

In Imperia, a small coastal town in Liguria, the Olio Olivia Festival is taking place again this year. Right at the port you will find a long promenade with stalls where you can taste and buy local olive products. Of course, there are also other products such as fresh bread and cheese – and music. In addition, numerous oil presses open their doors for a tour during the event. This will give you a chance to look behind the scenes and learn more about the fruit and the oil.

The Olio Olivia Festival will take place from November 8 to 10, 2024. and is one of the highlights of the olive harvest in Italy.

Taggiasca olives are the pride of Liguria

As an olive variety you will find here mainly the Taggiasca olive, which is grown in the area of Imperia. It is one of the most famous varieties in Italy and the most famous olive in Liguria. It is medium in size, has an elongated shape, firm flesh and thin skin. Its mild and spicy taste makes it popular both as a table olive and for olive oil. You can recognize them by their interesting coloration. They don’t have a uniform hue, but go from green to black with purple hues.

Fun Fact: Nutrition experts recommend olives as a healthy, salty snack in the evening. 100 grams of green olives have about 154 kcal (while 100 grams of potato chips have 536).

Support the locals by staying in an Albergo Diffuso in Liguria

Slightly hidden inland, but only a few kilometers from Imperia, the Relais del Maro is located in the small village of Borgomaro. As an Albergo Diffuso, the Relais del Maro is spread over several former residential and commercial buildings. In this way, the old buildings have been given a new use, and you live among the locals. For sustainable mobility, you can rent e-bikes. Or you can use the public buses that will take you also to the Olive Festival.

Nocella del Belice olives from Sicily

On the southern Italian island of Sicily, the Nocella olive is the star. It is a round, fleshy olive that is harvested while still green and has a nutty, fresh flavor. The olive is DOP protected. This is a seal recognized by the European Union that certifies that the agricultural product is limited to a specific region (in this case, Sicily) and that the entire production process (from harvest to finished product) takes place there. Nocella olives, like Taggiasca olives, are suitable for both table olives and olive oil. The 2024 olive harvest takes place in October and November.

The ADLER Spa Resort SICILIA is especially beautiful in the fall. The olive groves surrounding the resort and the Mediterranean landscape are bathed in a soft play of colors. The mild climate and the autumn air are ideal for walks along the coast, the WWF protected wild beach – one of the most beautiful beaches in Sicily.

The olive harvest is a special highlight every year. You have the opportunity to buy the freshly pressed olive oil directly from an adjacent store (you can also do this online at Patrizia Feinkost.)

Olive Harvest on the Canary Islands

In the Canary Islands, few olives are grown commercially compared to the Spanish mainland. This would hardly be possible in terms of area. Nevertheless, the dry and warm climate is wonderfully suited to the olive tree and you will find it on all Canary Islands.

According to Jörg Kroker, one of the official tourist guides for all Canary Islands, olive production has experienced a significant upward trend in recent years and Canarian table olives and Canarian olive oil are very popular on the markets. As the tourist guide writes on his website, there are 18 oil mills in the Canary Islands that press extra virgin olive oil:

• Nine oil mills in Gran Canaria
• Five in Fuerteventura
• Four in Tenerife

Gran Canaria has about 70,000 olive trees

The largest olive oil producer in the Canary Islands is Gran Canaria. According to Kroker, the island produces around 80 tons of olive oil each year. That may sound like a lot, but when you consider that Spain’s total production of over 1.3 million tons of olive oil per year covers 40 percent of the entire world market, it’s obviously not much. But it is also an island with only 865,000 inhabitants.

So it’s all the nicer to go to local tastings here and buy olives and oil directly from the farmers. This saves CO2 from transport and packaging. (Now if you look at it independently of the vacation).

Sustainable boutique hotel in Gran Canaria

If you are looking for a sustainable way to travel to the holiday island of Gran Canaria, we can recommend our Green PearlsⓇ partner, Casa León Royal Retreat. The small boutique hotel with only 25 rooms is located inland in the middle of a 10,000 square meter estate with native plants – including, of course, olive trees.

Fun fact: Here’s why olives are so healthy

Olives contain many valuable nutrients. They are about 14 percent fat, oleic acid. According to nutrition experts, oleic acid keeps the heart healthy, prevents liver damage, regulates blood lipids, and enriches the gut flora with good bacteria. Olives also contain iron, calcium, vitamins, folic acid, antioxidants, and other healthy compounds. It would be optimal to eat 7 olives a day.

Olive oil from Tenerife comes from a farmers’ initiative

The Canary Island of Tenerife does not have a long tradition of olive cultivation. It was only in 2013 that the first olive oil from Tenerife came on the market. Its name is “Oleoteide“. This is thanks to a farmers’ initiative launched by Manuel Marrero, president of the winery “Cumbres de Abona”. The initiative has planted around 22,000 olive trees of the Picual and Arbequina varieties and processes them into olive oil using its own oil press.

Picual olives belong to the most commonly grown olives for oil production. Arbequina olives are of the most aromatic.

If you are on vacation in Tenerife, you can support the farmers’ initiative by buying “oleoteide”, a local specialty, as a souvenir.

Combine a vacation at the time of the olive harvest with spa and wellness

The OCÉANO Health Spa Hotel is the ideal sustainable accommodation on Tenerife. Located on the Atlantic coast, it has several saltwater pools. For the health-conscious, the Health Spa Hotel offers daily yoga, fitness, and massages. The kitchen uses organic ingredients as much as possible, with a preference for regional products. These include a variety of goat’s milk products from a nearby goat farm, as well as local olive oil.

Reflections on the Olive Tree

Thoughts about the olive tree are popular, especially among educated adults. There are numerous studies on the health benefits of the fruit (from heart health to beauty tips to a sexual enhancer); tiny amounts selling at astounding prices; and, of course, there is a deep historical and religious component to it all. So, what did the dove of peace carry in its beak after the all-destroying flood? It was not roses or laurels – it was a blessed olive branch.

The olive tree is not a remarkable phenomenon in itself, but when you harvest olives, you somehow realize that the fruit is special. Smell, warmth and a pleasant feeling in your hands – that’s what I think of when I think of the olive harvest, which is just around the corner. We pick olives every year, and every year I pickle some.

Here’s how to pickle olives

1. Wash and clean the olives
2. Prepare the brine: Mix water with salt and a little vinegar. To test, put a raw egg in the water – if it floats, there is enough salt in the solution.
3. Dice lemons and chilies and put them in screw-top jars with the chopped olives.
4. Cover the olives with salted water.
   
5. After about three months, the olives are ready to eat.

This is precisely the recipe that everyone (that I know of) uses to prepare their olives here in our area of Jerusalem, and this is also how children in schools and kindergartens preserve the olives. I must say, however, that for some reason I never find my own olives as successful as those of my neighbors and relatives. It just takes (as with good dough) a knack for it, in addition to the recipe. At least that’s what I think – or do you have a tip for me?

This article was updated on September 9th 2024.

Save this article about the olive harvest in Italy and Spain for your next trip!