We are about 550 members, olive farms, in the southeastern area of Bari located in the territory of Castellana Grotte, Monopoli, Putignano, Turi and Conversano.
The Oleificio Sociale Coopertivo "A. Viterbo" of Castellana Grotte (Ba) was founded in 1945 by Angelo Viterbo who was the first president of Coopertiva, who remained in office until 1955.
Initially the members were 85, while today the cooperative boasts 546 associated olive farms.
WHO REPRESENTS US:
PRESIDENT
- De Michele Marino Domenico
SECRETARY
- Silvestri Onofrio
AUDITOR
- Dr. Domenico Quaranta
BOARD MEMBERS
- Ivone Nicola - Vice Presidente
- Cisternino Angelo
- Barletta Aldo
- Gentile Giuseppe
- Gentile Raffaele
- Ivone Vincenzo
- Petruzzi Luigi
- Simone Donato
They portray our realities and administer on our behalf one of the treasures that we jealously guard for generations, our quality oil.
Over the years there have been 5 presidents who have always aimed at innovation and updating of the structure and processing of olives, in order to achieve excellence in terms of the product obtained and the productions made.
This common thread led to the construction of the new structure of the building in 2006, which allows it to be considered and included among the excellence of the sector:
- Industrial-type structure located on two levels: a ground floor and a basement;
- Storage of incoming olives indoors, inside the olive tree, equipped with electronic weighbridge;
- Exclusive use of containers, used before or at the time of conferment, for the storage of olives waiting to enter the processing cycle;
- Introduction of the olives in the working process within 12 maximum 48 hours from the harvest, to guarantee the integrity of the raw materials;
- Cleaning and washing of olives before being introduced into the transformation process;
- Partisan or one-by-one processing, carried out through 2 continuous cycle processing lines, to guarantee the quality and hygiene of the transformed product;
- Processing temperatures, certified by the thermometers applied on each machine, not above 25°C : this allows us to perform cold processing, to guarantee the conservation of the organoleptic characteristics, fragrance and high-quality chemical-physical properties of the product obtained;
- Storage of the finished product in stainless steel food silos, located in the basement, protected from contaminants and / or environmental alterations (sun rays, high temperatures, etc.).
The cooperative is supplied exclusively by the olives of the members, coming from the land located in the countryside of Castellana Grotte as well as from neighboring land bordering the towns of Conversano, Polignano a Mare, Putignano and Monopoli.
The mainly cultivated varieties are the Cima di Mola, the Ogliarola Barese or the Olivastro, recently new cultivars have been introduced especially Coratina, Simona, Pecholine which enrich the varietal offer present in the area, but which in any case remain marginal or niche.
The structural characteristics of the local olive growing, with centuries-old trees, very large plantings, harvesting not exclusively from the plant allow to obtain different types of products not exclusively extra-virgin, but also virgin or of inferior quality.
In spite of this, the continuous research of quality and excellence by the cooperative in fact that, despite the intrinsic characteristics of the territory, 70% of the production is extra virgin and the remaining 30% is divided between virgin oil and lamp oil.
The constant innovation and resourcefulness in the management of the cooperative has allowed the realization of specific production sectors for the oil: first of all the production of certified organic extra virgin olive oil ; the introduction of the voluntary traceability process even before the mandatory one according to reg. Ce 178/2002, thanks to the partnership with Assoproli Bari and its technical staff.
Last, but not in order of importance, the Coop. Viterbo was among the first producers to bear the DOP brand "Terra di Bari" with the geographical mention "Murgia dei Trulli and the Grotte" in the realization of an extra virgin olive oil that contains all the characteristics and the typicality of the area of origin.
The cooperative has always had as a catchment area mainly the final consumer, especially families who, through the "word of mouth" system, make known the goodness and quality of our extra virgin olive oil.
This is also facilitated by the widespread shipping service provided by the oil mill, which allows the final consumer to be reached throughout the National and Extra-National territory.
Currently our cooperative is managed by our president De Michele Marino Domenico in collaboration with the secretary Silvestri Onofrio and the production managers Amodio Leonardo and Sonnante Giuseppe, who in agreement with the entire Board of Directors and the whole membership base, can be considered a excellence in the agro-food sector of the southeastern part of Bari.