Monna Giovannella Farm

Monna Giovannella Farm
via di Petriolo n.7
Antella, Bagno a Ripoli (Fi)
www.monnagiovannella.it
email: info@monnagiovannella.it
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The origins of Monna Giovannella Farm, the villa and surrounding estate, owe themselves to the presence of the Peruzzi family in Antella, small hamlet just outside Florence.

The Peruzzis, a powerful Florentine family, amassed great wealth due to their trading and banking activities, going on to become one the richest families in Europe of Medieval times. The importance of the Peruzzis is highlighted by Dante Alighieri’s mention of them in the cantica XVI of the Paradise in his Divine Comedy. The murals in their family chapel in Santa Croce were painted by Giotto.

The most ancient historical evidence in Monna Giovannella Villa is a tabernacle inscribed with the year 1583, the tabernacle was later transformed into chapel and annexed to the villa. Other testimonies refer to a pastoral visit by the Archibishop Morgia in 1690 and a tombstone dated 1720, which is still present at the villa.

During their stay in Antella, the Peruzzi family split into two branches, dividing their possessions too. One branch of the family was linked to the Peruzzi Villa, while the other was linked to the Monna Giovannella Villa. In mid 1800 Giulia Peruzzi, the last of the Peruzzis to own the Monna Giovannella Villa, brought back several farm buildings and their lands which, along with the Villa and the Petriolo di Sotto farm constitute the estate as it is today: Petriolo di Sopra, Cinciallegra, Poderino, Cincia dei colli and Serraglio.

After the Peruzzis, Ernesto Nathan took ownership of the villa between 1877 and 1914. An important politician in recently united Italy, Nathan had a very important role in Antella, founding local embroidery schools which contributed to improving many families’ economic situation as well as the economy of the area as a whole.

From 1931 the estate was owned by the Regio Istituto Agrario e Forestale (Royal Institute of Agriculture and Forestry), which later became the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Florence. During this time, Monna Giovannella Villa was the seat of an important national scientific centre.

From 1944 the villa and the estate were owned by the Chamber of Commerce of Florence, it has been under its current ownership since 2007.

Since its early days Monna Giovannella Farm been committed to organic methods of production, focussing on respect for the environment, the plants, the product and the client in order to produce a product of the highest possible quality.

Initially focussed on rejuvenating the land, the farm has managed in just a few years to produce an Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil of excellent quality.

The olive pressing and storage are conducted following modern methods and techniques so as to ensure a high quality final product. The olives are picked from Frantoiano, Leccino, Moraiolo, and Pendolino trees and are then pressed within 12 hours of picking through a continuous circle cold pressing to preserve all their organoleptic properties. The product is then stored under Argon in the latest generation of stainless steel silos.

Our efforts have been rewarded with Monna Giovannella’s inclusion in two olive oil guidebooks, Slow Food’s Guida agli Extravergini 2014 for the Italian market and Merum 2014 – Italiens Best Olivenöle for the German market.

We got also the following awards: Silver Award at New York International Olive Oil Competition 2014; Gold Medal at Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition, Winner as Best Organic EVO at Liquor d’Ulivi 2014 and winner of Gioco del Piacere (Play of Pleasure) organized by Slow Food Italy.

From this year the ownership is investing heavily in the recovery of several hectares of land that have previously remained uncultivated where a variety of different types of wheat and cereals have been sowed: Senatore Cappelli durum wheat to produce pasta, Verna wheat to produce flour for bread making, and spelt, a cereal typical of the Tuscan countryside. The Senatore Cappelli durum wheat and Verna wheat are part of the collection of wheats known as “Ancient Wheats” due to their origins being dated before the intensive cultivation of wheat.

Once again the farm is committed towards the tradition, the history, and the culture surrounding it.

Monna Giovannella Farm has recently launched Scrupoli, a line of chocolate products made with extra virgin olive oil. The line is made up of: 39 Scrupoli, a chocolate spread containing 19.5% extra virgin olive oil, 33 Scrupoli, a chocolate spread containing 16.5% extra virgin olive oil, and 25 Scrupoli, a chocolate and extra virgin olive oil bar.

Over the last week we have installed a number of bee hives at Monna Giovannella with the aim of starting to produce our own honey.

Monna Giovannella is also carrying out product research, still in the experimental stages, to produce a chocolate spread using our organic extra virgin olive oil.

At Monna Giovannella we work everyday with passion and enthusiasm in order to craft products which are not only of excellent quality, but are also able to pass on that same passion, respect and love for our land which leads us to pay so much attention of every single detail and and which make us and our products who we are.