It all started with a visit to Crete.....

A few years ago I was on Crete and I had the opportunity to visit an ancient olive grow that is several thousand years old. I felt like I was entering a temple. The vital power of these majestic trees and the peaceful silence touched me deeply. But this magical moment was cancelled out by the noise of a chainsaw. These unique natural wonder were felled because the sale of the wood is more lucrative in the short term than producing olives. As the care of these mighty trees is very costly, many farmers don't even bother to harvest the olives in time. They content themselves with laying nets on the ground to collect the overripe, already rotten olives. These olives are then pressed into a low-quality, cheap lamp oil, which is first processed into a low-grade oil in a refinery using chemical processes.

However, these ancient olive trees have enormous cultural value. They have survived the Egyptians, the Minoans and the Romans and tell stories from these times long past. At the same time, I learned a certain number of trees of the original Roman Raio still exist in Umbria (IT). That was the moment I decided to take action and founded Mitera GmbH in autumn 2019.

Our goals are to save the trees (some of which are also mother trees) that are at risk of extincion, to pay the farmers a fair price for their work and to ensure that the tree can continue to leave in their original places.

Mitera GmbH sells very elaborately produced, exclusive and DNA-certified olive oils from the aforementioned varieties and assures consumers the traceability. And we have recently added two more DNA-certified olive oils to our range: these are harmonious blends of the aforementioned original varieties and younger varieties from Crete (GR) and Umbria/Abruzzo (IT).

We look forward to your visit!

Your Mitera Team