Benza Taggiasca Olives

Taggiasca olives are the most prized Ligurian olives, and the source of the region’s signature delicate, balanced olive oil. Claretta and Gigi Benza are a mother and son team, who jar the olives themselves. As they like to say, tasting their olives is like taking a journey into the hills of the Imperia valley in western Liguria, where the temperate seaside climate and calcium-rich soil create the perfect Mediterranean olive.

The Benza’s passion for olives and olive oil means they are committed to protecting and improving their region’s prized olive trees; they initiated a project of landscape restoration by buying abandoned olive groves and returning them to their original production capacity. They personally oversee the production of the plants from the time they flower until the harvest. They are the latest in a long line of committed olive farmers; the Benza family has been making olive oil in the Ligurian Riviera since the 16th century. Today, Gigi and Claretta oversee the production, but one thing has not changed - their unwavering commitment to quality.