Above the legendary Lim Channel, olive groves have been lined up for centuries. Among them, you can still find the olive rosinjola, an indigenous olive sort in Istria that is still grown today around Vrsar, Rovinj and Vodnjan. Its oil has an intense aroma, a pronounced spicy taste and moderate bitterness, and the Radovčić family from Vrsar considers rosinjola to be their best olive oil, despite the fact that it is a small olive and difficult to harvest. In order to show other

The historian of Maslinar, Željko Krnčević, peeked into the medieval statute of Split, which, among other things, prescribed and sued and the care of olives. The people of Split have articles about olives and oil in their old legal acts. The first city statute entitled Capitularium was given in 1240 by the Split potestat Gargan de Arscindis of Ancona who wrote good city customs (consuetudo) and added other legal norms to them. This statute served as the backbone to the one th

To sit in the house of Mr. Vojko Škopić and talk to him, his wife, and his mother, is a time well spent. Time well spent was also idea of Mr Vojko at the time he retired. He devoted this time to gardening and olive growing. As usual, this hobby turned to be a job by itself and quite soon Mr. Vojko became the biggest olive oil producer on the island of Ugljan. In the picturesque part of the island, the family cares for some 250 olive trees, which give between five and six tons

After a hard day's work in the olive groves, the best thing is to relax and try some very old recipes on the island of Ugljan. Just, we didn't really pick the olives this time. We were roaming throughout the island, visiting the beautiful St. Jerome's monastery and learning about the folklore tradition in the place of Ugljan. Despite its name, this place is not the centre of the island (it is Preko), but it is the biggest and quite different from all the other places on Uglja

In the peaceful little port of Preko, overlooking the islet of Galovac, Mrs. Mladenka Mašina opens the rustic iron door and lets us in the old olive oil factory. Once it was a museum dedicated to the tradition of olive oil making on the island of Ugljan, but today it waits for better times and renovation. Sometimes it may be open and tourists may learn more about the techniques and ways to produce extra-virgin olive oils. Mrs. Mladenka was kind enough to open the place for us

Ruža Kršul is probably one of the most energetic woman of Vinodol. Her love is not only olives, but also gastronomic tradition and heritage of small places in this valley. Making of prisnac, innovative cakes, liquors, eco-vegetables, with knowledge of history and customs, nothing is strange for her. We visited Kršul’s olive grove that sits beneath the town of Bribir itself. When first olive trees came to this land, many were sceptical, as olives do not traditionally grow in t