Honoring Our Ancestral Roots
Piuma d'Oro is an opportunity to honor our heritage, from our ancestral roots, grandparents, to our parents who were directly responsible for the love of olive oil.
We (Nelson and Karla) grew up in Caracas, Venezuela during the 70s, 80s, and 90s with Italian and Spanish heritage and blood relatives. Nelson's parents moved there in the 1950s and Karla's family in the 1880s. The connection with Italy and Spain was physically remote however very close on a day to day basis when food was on the table.
Nelson's quintessential breakfast was pane con olio e pomodori (bread with olive oil and tomatoes), since he can remember he's had this breakfast and to this day loves it as it connects him to growing up with his parents and brothers (who sometimes used to nick some of his breakfast for fun 😂). He still says that Papa Paolo made the best pane con olio e pomodori ever (don't say anything to his Mom 🤫)
Pane con olio e pomodori made by Mamma Elda
We learned at a very young age the value of great ingredients first and then preparing them well, letting them sing their song, simply yet full of taste.
One uncle was an olive oil producer and knew this industry very well, and it produced great olive oil for daily consumption. Nelson's aunties in Italy always made sure that we had plenty of olive oil! The abundance of it is very apparent when you are either producing it or are very close to producers.
When visiting family in Italy, our uncles would always give us five litre tins of olive oil to take away and enjoy at home to remember the taste. That taste of Italy was tucked away very well in our memories.
Yes, there is a five litre tin of olive oil inside the backpack!
"When you have great ingredients, you don't need to add much to food. Simplicity at its best."
The name Piuma d'Oro (Golden Feather) honors a feather-light connection between two Città d'Arte (Artistic City): Penne, the hometown of Nelson's parents, and Cortona, where the grove lives. A Città d'Arte is an official Italian cultural designation reserved for towns of exceptional artistic, architectural, and historical significance. Both towns carry this rare honor, and together they give Piuma d'Oro its soul, acknowledging the art of the olive oil and its beautiful characteristics. Both locations are also known for good olive oil production with distinctive characteristics.
Penne
Cortona
Since moving to the UK in 2000, we became serious foodies. London offers a unique opportunity to taste foods from many countries and share many cultures. We developed a love for cooking, eating and entertainment. Our dinner parties became legendary! As a consequence, our cuisine is varied, sometimes we cook outside our heritage for fun and to expand our taste buds. But it has to be said, the core of our cooking always goes back to Italian, Venezuelan or Spanish dishes which is not a surprise.
This love for cooking, eating and entertainment somehow has involved great quality olive oil, and it has featured for flavor and health countless times. There are no seed oils in our house or in our cooking. We use olive oil appropriately when cooking at low temperature or used raw for drizzling on top. We avoid using Extra Virgin Olive Oil like Piuma d'Oro for cooking with heat.
Dedicated to our Papa Paolo, whose memory lives in every drop.
Honoring Papa Paolo
As a couple, we have not lived permanently in Italy, and have only visited over the years staying with family and friends. When this opportunity came up for us to own a share of production of olive oil in Tuscany, it was like a lighting bolt of happiness, all the memories from childhood came flooding back, Nelson's Dad longing to go back to his hometown and be closer to that farming community again and relive his childhood close to family and friends. It has also opened the possibility to be closer to family and friends living in Italy which fills us with great pleasure.
Sadly, in 2008, Nelson's Dad (Paolo) passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly in Venezuela and those dreams were partially met. This is now our opportunity to honour Papa Paolo and provide him in spirit the opportunity to be a farmer again and grow food for people to get together, enjoy life and make olive oil a big part of that!
Our Philosophy
Our olive oil endeavours have been inspired by our love of connection: to nature, to family and our heritage, and to you, our customer who gets to experience it and hopefully create memories consuming it.
At the core, we love providing experiences to people that are positively memorable, that transform and provide excitement; something that we have done with our families and friends for a long time. It all starts at the table with good food, good company, good wine and of course, good olive oil.
We now have a vehicle to extend that heartwarming welcome to our home through our olive oil production. Our first experiences with olive oil were linked to our love for food inspired by our families, the tradition of a Sunday meal prepared with love, care, and attention. Olive oil has been right in the centre of that food story and we now have the opportunity to inspire you as a consumer and get to live a bit of our family heritage by welcoming you to our family and sharing some of that with you.
Olive oil runs deep in our families. From Nelson's Italian family, not only they have been using it for cooking forever, but they have also been involved in olive groves and production for centuries. From Karla's Spanish heritage, they have also been using olive oil for decades, for cooking and for health.
Piuma d'Oro is our opportunity to support others to experience the taste, flavour, and wellness of olive oil when it is produced with love, care and attention. As much as possible, we take sustainability seriously across our entire production, from looking after the olive trees without pesticides to bottling and shipping using as little packaging as possible.
Piuma d'Oro is a handpicked, single-grove, cold-pressed-once extra virgin olive oil born from the rolling hills of Cortona in Tuscany. Every bottle is a sensory portal transporting the consumer to Tuscany, connecting them to the land, the people, and the love behind every harvest.
Our Olive Oil
Ultimately, as olive oil producers, our biggest desire is that you as a consumer get to experience the joy and the love we have put into our olive oil, whether you taste it with your food or neat in the morning.
When you taste our olive oil, we want you to be transported to the rolling hills of Tuscany during sunshine or sundown, when you close your eyes and focus on the taste of oil. If you are a foodie like us, we are very confident that you will love our olive oil. If you are not familiar with using or cooking with olive oil, we will offer help through our website with inspirational recipes and ways to use it in an appropriate way for maximum flavour and pleasure so that you end up loving it.
Since we only produce a limited amount a year, we want to provide a unique tasting experience every year to you. Our ethos is not to mass produce so we can keep the quality standards high and offer a great tasting experience to you.
Growing in the rolling hills of Cortona in Tuscany, Piuma d'Oro is picked and pressed with love. Dedicated to Papa Paolo, by Tenuta N&K Salvatorelli. From two Città d'Arte, for the world to enjoy!
A presto and good health!