Lying on the Nord side of Mount Pausillo, in the municipality of Paciano in the district of Perugia, Azienda Agricola Le Balze was born in 1986 when Buitoni family (owners since 19th century and founders of the food firm that still carry the same name) sold us a neglected ha 23 olive grove with 2500 trees of Moraiolo, Leccino, Frantoio and Dolce Agogia, distinctive cultivars of the region.
With dedication and lot of passion, operations of grove reactivation began immediately: the called state of neglect helped under two main aspects.
The first was that the presence of suckers, brambles and other parasitic plants gave a huge protection to olive trees during the big chill of winter 1984/1985, and reduced the replacement of dead plants; the second was that exactly because fertilizers have been barely used in the previous years, it has been simple and easy changing from traditional into organic agriculture, as there were basically no non-approved fertilizer to eliminate from the earth.
Positive effect on production was immediate, starting from the next campaign of 1987, permitting so far to plan further plantations; in the first years of her new life, Le Balze increased the size by acquiring neighbouring fields and applying the same principles of organic agriculture.
The olive groves acquired in this second phase were perfectly operational: borne by EU subsidies, dedication and passion were then directed to switch into olive groves parts previously cultivated differently (sunflowers, vineyards); only a portion of ha 3 has been switched into walnut grove because of its low altitude and therefore olives could easily be attacked by the olive fly.
Actually, Le Balze has now around 10.000 olive trees for an annual production of 170/180 tons of olives; care and dedication, powered by the passion, that we put in every step of production, enhance the quality of our oil, as testified by awards obtained.