The name Galestrino took form from a visit that, one day, I received by an old peasant : we were in the field and he was teaching me how to plant the “giaggiolo” the name that, in Chianti, we give to the flower of Iris. Testing the ground with few, expert shots of hoe my guest exclaimed : the giaggiolo will thrive in this “galestrino”, wanting to mean a soft and lose soil, generated from the fragmentation of Galestro , a typical clay stone of this area. Our olive trees grow and thrive in such a particular soil and the name of our farm and our Extra Vergin Olive Oil comes from such happy exclamation.
Our olive trees grow and thrive in such a particular soil and the name of our farm and our Extra Vergin Olive Oil comes from such happy exclamation. Few people know that the renowned symbol of Florence in not a Lily but an Iris, or giaggiolo in local dialect. This flower has been grown in Chianti during centuries in order to exploit those poor parcels of land that could not be used for other uses. The rhyzome of giaggiolo grows anywhere, even by the foot of olive trees, granting a small return by selling it to Grasse factories in Provence, as a base for perfumes. The contrast between the silver leaves of the olive trees and the intense bluestem of giaggiolo in is a must-see in this area of Tuscany at the beginning of May, every year.
