During the last 40 years in Italy 1.5 million hectares have been abandoned, 70% in hilly areas, and the highest abandonment rates occur when the slope of the terrain is more than 20%.
 In the last 50 years, the 80% of olive groves of the sub-Mediterranean area have been abandoned. In the district of Latina, between the 80s and 2010, the areas with olive groves were reduced by 2,000 hectares.
Itrana Alta Quota is the name of our project to counteract the risk of abandonment of the hilly areas of the Dop Colline Pontine (Pontine Hills) and at the same time to enhance the nutraceutical properties of the extra virgin olive oil produced up high in the hills on terraced fields, where the steep slope forces to manually manage all the agricultural practices.
When abandonment prevails over persistence, the olive grower is not the only one to lose, since he stops incurring in unproductive costs, indeed. Loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, hydro-geological and landscape damages, are only some of the effects that abandonment has on the ecosystem.
Damages that become more relevant when abandonment involves terraced lands bordered by dry-stone walls, that without maintenance end up losing their holding power.
Yet sloping hilly terrain have on average better agronomic conditions than those in the plain. So why give up? Why not try to turn the tide? Merely willing is not enough, real actions are needed. That’s why it is important to buy extra virgin olive oil produced on terraced lands.