Pliny the Elder, in Naturalis Historia (XV,8), gives a comparison in terms of the quality of olive oil, that of Istria to that of Betica, province of southern Spain.
The Spanish poet Marziale (XII, 63) compares the fertile Cordova to the oil contained within Istrian amphores: “Uncto Corduba laetior Venafro, Histria nec minus absoluta testa” (Cordova, thou art more fertile than the unctuous Venafro and as perfect as Istrian oil)
Marco Gavio Apicio, who in the 1st century AD wrote a treatise on culinary art (De re coquinaria, 14), dedicates those pages to a prescription for creating an oil inspired by an Istrian oil.
Oil, much like spices, was used as a means of bargaining for many centuries – testimony to this are findings of jars embellished with landowners’ names. Those from 64 AD, belonging to Gaio Lecanio Basso, consul of Fasana d’Istria, found in the Po Valley as well as in the Noricum Alps and even as far as Greece and Carthage. Istrian oil was in fact considered inferior only to that of Venafro in Campania but substantially superior to that of Betica, current day Andalucia, as stated by Pliny the Elder.
In 17th and 18th Century Istria, under the dominion of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, oil represented the most important product gained from nature and was the primary source of revenue for the Doges’ government, which imposed severe taxes. As much as 75% of entries were related to oil taxation, whilst only a minor amount concerned other products such as wine, wood and fish.
From the Agricultural Society’s annual documentation it can be noted that between the years 1771 and 1794 olive oil production underwent huge variations due to climatic condition. Following extreme seasonal droughts, the quantities of oil produced fell from 20.468 to 1.050 vats.
At the outbreak of the First World War, the Venezia Giulia Atlas edited by Cesare Battisti, certified the presence of 730.000 olive plants within Istria, a number which, when both Triest and the islands of Quarnero are considered, increases to 1.670.000. In total the region boasted 182 mills actively producing oil.
In the book “Elaiografia Istriana” (1849-1934) edited in 1902, Carlo Hugues classified and described no less than 30 varieties of olives in Istria within an area of over 10.000 ha.
