SALLEMI RAFFAELE SRL

About SALLEMI RAFFAELE SRL

A Family of Tasters

The Sallemi olive oil mill is a family mill and a family, growing from two permanent employees to fifty seasonal workers. But the true specialty of this oil family is the fact that it can count on three palates, who, on every occasion, exchange ideas, discuss, and ultimately arrive at a complete definition of the oil in question.
This internal resource speaks volumes about the Sallemis’ closeness. In selecting the extravirgin olive  oils, father Raffaele is always supported by both Martina and Luigi, while waiting for their third child, Pierfrancesco, to join.
The tasting, including sampling and analysis, takes a maximum of forty-eight hours. The mill has nine 100-liter tanks, which are used to separate the extravirgin olive oils based on their acidity before they are stored in stainless steel silos.

As Raffaele Sallemi says: “Our work is rich in simplicity.”
A very intense work that takes place between October and December. During those three months, nothing exists outside of extravirgin olive oil, and the mill is a world unto itself.
During that period, since its founding in 1873, the mill has transformed into a public square, and the wait for the pressing has become an opportunity for discussion and conversation. A meeting place, a sort of permanent assembly.
This has always been the case, and even more so because of Sallemi’s approach to dealing with olive suppliers.
A virtuous relationship has been established. The mill strives for quality, and to do so consistently, it is essential to align the level of expectations with that of cultivation and harvesting.
For this reason, around ninety producers have been selected, from whom Sallemi purchases olives while they are still on the tree.
Olives that must meet precise criteria: low acidity and a harmonious balance between fruitiness, bitterness, and pungency.
Of course, it happens, as it has happened, that the olives purchased were not harvested because they were not suitable for the required quality.

Our great-grandfather opened the mill in 1873, and it continued to press olives until 1988, when we first attempted to bottle our oil. This attempt was quickly abandoned, as low prices were affecting the market at the time. When the perception of extra virgin olive oil changed and the concept of quality over quantity gained traction, we began producing under our own label. That was in 1999.
Meanwhile, the mill was modernizing: in 1976, the press system was replaced by the Rapanelli continuous system; in 1990, it was the turn of the Pieralisi system, based on more modern technologies and cold pressing; four years later, the vital parts of the system—the decanter, crushing, and malaxation—were replaced.
A further upgrade, in 2004, aimed at improving the malaxation and centrifugal extraction processes.
Finally, in 2014, the Pieralisi Leopard 8 system was installed at the mill, allowing for cold, waterless extraction.
Some time has passed, but the initial passion hasn’t. As a child, the mill was a playground for me and a joy during the months between October and December, when I could roam freely and be allowed to get dirty.
I smelled of extra virgin olive oil, and that scent has stayed with me.

Raffaele Sallemi