Villa Branzino
Our Story
From Our Trees to Your Table
Our love affair with Italy began long before we ever called it home.
Carly grew up in an Italian-American household, where Sunday dinners were loud, long, and full of laughter, and there was always a bottle of olive oil on the table. After decades of spending our holidays in Italy and celebrating our wedding in Capri in 2022, we finally decided to make our dream a reality.
We packed up our lives, got Brady his EU pet passport, and came to stay.
Our home in the hills of Umbria is called Villa Branzino, named after our Italian nickname for our beloved dog, Brady. Now ten years old, he is still our constant shadow, spending his afternoons keeping one eye on the olive grove and the other on his ball.
Like most Americans, we had no idea just how extraordinary real olive oil could be, or how many health benefits it offered. Living in Italy changed that. We fell in love with the traditions, the process, and, of course, the taste. Today, olive oil finds its way into almost every meal we make, and we hope it will find its way onto your table, too.
Of course, nature doesn't always cooperate.
Last year, the olive fruit fly (la mosca dell'olivo) got to every single olive, leaving us without a harvest. We were devastated to miss what had quickly become one of our favorite family traditions.
Thankfully, this year, the olives did not disappoint.
Our friend Lucio, who also comes from an Italian family and spends half the year in Italy, joined us for the harvest. He shares our appreciation for Italian traditions, as does Fulvio, our wonderful gardener, who has cared for these trees for many years.
Together, we spent two long days picking every olive by hand under the Umbrian sun, navigating hillsides steep enough to make us question whether the oil was really worth it. Luckily, Lucio kept us laughing the entire time, which was the only reason we made it to the last tree.
On October 15th, we loaded up our crates of olives and drove to the local mill, where we watched this year's oil come to life: bright green, peppery, and full of the unmistakable flavor of freshly pressed Umbrian olive oil.
What started as a simple appreciation for the Italian tradition of olive harvesting has become a cherished family ritual at Villa Branzino and a wonderful creative outlet for Carly. We feel incredibly fortunate to call this little pocket of Italy home, and even luckier to share a little piece of it with you.
From our trees to your table, with love.
Austin and Carly + Brady
