Face to face with: OLIO MAXIMUS | SANA Partner

January 2026

Olio Maximus is a farm dedicated to producing premium EVOO and protecting the Nostrale di Rigali variety, a rare variety native to a narrow stretch of the Umbrian-Marche Apennines. From this cultivar, we produce 'Puro', our Slow Food Presidium monocultivar. Our mission is to reclaim abandoned olive groves to protect the Umbrian landscape: we save at least 200 mountain olive trees from abandonment each year, rather than planting new, intensive olive groves. What makes our project unique is our packaging: our cold-pressed oils are housed in handcrafted Umbrian ceramics, uniting the two pillars of regional tradition in a unique sensory experience

What inspired your participation in SANA Food 2026, and what goals or expectations are guiding you in this new edition?

Our decision to participate in SANA Food 2026 is driven by the strong alignment between your commitment to food excellence and our own corporate philosophy. We share a common target audience—discerning customers who prioritize quality—making this trade show the ideal stage for us. Our primary goal for this edition is internationalization: we aim to introduce our brand and its core values to new global markets.

Today’s consumers are increasingly conscious about health and well-being. How has this awareness influenced your production choices or inspired new product concepts?

Our company was founded with a 100% organic identity—a choice that anticipates the growing consumer focus on health and well-being. Once the transition of our final olive groves is complete, our entire production will be exclusively organic. This is a radical and distinctive position: very few olive oil producers commit to full organic integrity, given the technical complexities of organic olive cultivation. For us, however, safeguarding consumer health and the ecosystem is the primary driver behind every production choice.

Tradition and innovation often go hand in hand in a company’s growth journey. How do you manage to honor your roots while giving them a contemporary interpretation?

Our company balances past and future, starting with our identity: the brand and the names of our oils are a direct tribute to our family's history. We translate our roots into a contemporary vision through two pillars: technique, using cutting-edge extraction methods to enhance the sensory profiles of our ancient cultivars, and design. We have reinterpreted the tradition of Umbrian ceramics, transforming a centuries-old art into modern and functional packaging, transforming oil from a mere food to a true decorative object.

Transparency, sustainability, and traceability have become essential values in today’s market. How do you bring these principles to life in your distribution practices?

We translate these values into a radical choice: we grow only what we produce. Being farmers first and foremost, we manage the entire supply chain, from tree care to extraction, all the way to bottling. Our traceability is complete because we never purchase olives or oil from outside: every drop comes exclusively from our own land. We know that the olive tree is an alternate-crop plant, and this can limit our availability, but our transparency with our customers means guaranteeing guaranteed origin and consistent quality, even at the risk of selling out in the early months of the year. Our sustainability is expressed through the ongoing regeneration of abandoned olive groves, which increases our production capacity year after year without forcing the rhythms of nature. This philosophy has been so appreciated by our partners that today we work most of the year by reservation for the following harvest.