The Olive Trees of Vallebona

In our village, one of the most important economic resources in the past was the cultivation of olive trees. The olive tree has always been valued by everyone because it represented a source of sustenance, thanks to its precious fruits, but also a significant energy resource; my father often told me that olive wood warms you four times: when you cut it, when you split it, when you carry it on your back home, and finally, when you burn it in the stove.

The importance of the olive tree in the rural economy of Vallebona was well known to the entire population, so much so that until a few years ago our elders remembered some olive trees that had become famous for certain characteristics.

For example, the "auriva da spia" was a tree located along the "Valun de vi", in the "morghe", which had the strange habit of flowering earlier than the other trees, so by observing it you could deduce what the future harvest would be like.

Another famous tree was the "auriva du mundavù", another tree, always located in the "morghe", which had an interesting feature: one of its branches extended horizontally about 2 meters above the ground, so the "mundavù", that is the person appointed to clear the olives, an operation that consisted of manually separating the just knocked down olives from the leaves and other impurities, could use that branch to hang a long curtain, or sheet.

He would then throw large handfuls of olives and leaves against the sheet, from a distance of at least 4 or 5 meters, using a paddle called sassola ("a sassura"); the lighter leaves fell to the ground before reaching the sheet, while the heavier olives stopped against the sheet and piled up on the ground above a cloth.

Nowadays, this operation is carried out with the aid of electric machines, much faster; I personally use the "guitar", which is an inclined plane made of long iron wires spaced a few millimeters apart (like the strings of a guitar) along which I slide the olives to be cleared: the leaves do not reach the end of the inclined plane because they fall through the "strings" of the guitar.

There was also a time when there were some olive trees owned by the Municipality, which were made available to poor peasants who did not own any olive trees, so they could collect a few baskets ("cavagnu") of olives and produce some oil. The tree was called "the tree of souls".

Riccardo Lanteri