The Oil Mill

The cutting-edge crushing and extraction systems at FRANTOIO MASACCIO make it the most modern mill in Italy and one of the most advanced in the world.


Small in size compared to the large-scale Apulian and Spanish oil mills, it stands out for its rigorous choice to produce a line of extra virgin olive oil obtained only from olives grown on the Pratomagno hills, a renowned olive-growing area located between 500 and 700 metres above sea level.

This ensures the shortest possible time between harvesting and pressing, preventing the olives from deteriorating while waiting to be processed and avoiding the hours, if not days, of transportation that would seriously compromise the quality of the final product.

After being harvested, the olives from the FRANTOIO MASACCIO are immediately sent to the mill and placed in the appropriate containers. in ventilated boxes ( bins ), so that the olive does not heat up, keeping it fresh.

The bins are then unloaded into hoppers, and the olives are sent to the dry cleaning system: stones, leaves, soil, and branches are carefully separated from the fruit. The cleaning system used by FRANTOIO MASACCIO is not only mounted externally to ensure only clean olives enter the mill, but also has a processing capacity three times greater than the crushing system, ensuring a smoother, slower process that ensures perfect cleaning.

Here we move on to the water-powered washing machine: the washing machine is small, with a capacity of about 600 liters. This means the water is constantly replaced, unlike most washing machines of this type, which, with a capacity of over 1,500 liters, are often left unemptied to avoid waste, reusing the same water for multiple washes.

The replacement of continuous running water can thus be carried out even while the machine is working, without stopping.

The olives then pass over a vibrating plate, onto which a clean, continuous jet of water is poured, before being transported to the drying belt, which uses a blower system. Once inside the plant, the olives enter perfectly dry and ready to be crushed.

The pressing is done using variable-speed knives in "real time," meaning the PSS (control panel) can be adjusted for each type of processing: the olives can be processed in 52 different ways, depending on the cultivar type, the temperature at which the olives arrive at the mill, the condition of the fruit, and the current weather conditions.

The crushing model of the FRANTOIO MASACCIO respects a thermal Δ of 2°C, compared to a hammer model which has a thermal Δ of 7°C.

From this moment on, nitrogen is introduced into the crusher, reducing the presence of oxygen and avoiding the slightest risk of oxidation.

Nose pumps are used to push the paste towards the malaxers.

Stainless steel propeller pumps are not subject to wear and do not release phthalates, toxic substances typically found in the rubber seals of the most widely used helical single-stage pumps.

Once the olive paste has been obtained, it passes through the vertical malaxer which has a dual function: either cooling or heating the paste itself, a fundamental step for what is called “cold extraction” .

The cold extraction process is thus controlled at five points:

  • The controlled temperature must always remain below 27°C

  • The 52 processing variables between crushing and kneading (real-time processing)

  • Replacing the crushing groups/knives

  • Reduced kneading times

  • Nitrogen saturation during the malaxation phase

Once these five steps have been followed and the perfect state of balance between the liquid and solid parts ( coalescence ) has been reached, the paste is transferred to the decanter, also known as a centrifugal extractor.

The paste contains a quantity of vegetable water equal to 50/60%: the olive is in fact composed of 55% water, 15% oil and 3% pomace.

The centrifugal extractor separates the water and pomace from the oil. 

Once the extra virgin olive oil is obtained, it is filtered through cellulose filters to remove the mucilage that could later settle at the bottom of the bottle, causing the oil to discolor and become rancid.

The extra virgin olive oil is then stored in steel silos, where the temperature is kept under control and where nitrogen is introduced to avoid any risk of oxidation .