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Itinéraires par région

Santa Lucia di Tallà is famous for its olive oil, produced from the many olive groves surrounding the village. The olive trees in this part of the island are mostly of the same variety, a ghjermana. They are either free-standing trees, which are rare, or wild olive trees, the oleaster, the uddastru, which have been grafted. This variety gives a fine, sweet and fruity oil. The flowering period varies from year to year, from mid-May to mid-June. There is a saying that the later the flowering, the better the yield. The harvest lasts for six months from November. The traditional harvest was done by hand, picking up the olives that had fallen to the ground, one by one. Under the trees, the ground had been carefully cleaned, even swept beforehand. Nowadays, nets are used to collect them when they are ripe and black. The oil produced from ripe olives is milder and has a very low acidity. Its taste varies according to the time of picking, becoming more and more fruity. After being picked, they were sorted with a sieve. The green fruits were discarded because they gave the oil a bitter taste. Often they were dried a little to make them lose their water naturally. Then they were taken to the mill, u fragnu. There they were placed in scourtins, i sacculeddi. Placed one on top of the other, under the press, they let a first oil flow out, without any other pressure than their own weight. This oil, which was sought after, was the real "virgin oil". Then came the first cold-pressed oil. All that remained was a compact paste, cakes, which could be scalded to obtain a second-pressed oil, the oliu d'infernu. The former was used for consumption, while the latter was used for lighting. was used for lighting. These cakes could also be used as fuel or exported to Marseille where they were used to make soap. Below the path is the mill, where you can see all the preserved elements of the different stages of oil production. It was called u Fragnonu because it was an important paddle mill. Most of the oil mills in the region were driven by donkeys. This one had a paddle wheel, fed by the nearby stream, whose canal and reach can still be seen. It was electrified very early on, in 1934. The paddle wheel system and the wicker scourers were replaced by an electric millstone and hemp scourers. It bears witness to the importance of olive oil production in the economy of the commune.

Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano

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