The Tuscan producer’s medium-intensity blend of Frantoio, Leccino and Moraiolo earned its latest top award in New York.
Olive Oil Times |
Monte San Savino, Italy — Agricola Maraviglia has been awarded a Gold at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for the Maraviglia brand.
Maraviglia is an extra virgin olive oil of medium intensity made from Frantoio, Leccino and Moraiolo olives. Marked by herbaceous aromas, the blend shows notes of almond and artichoke alongside arugula and a red chili pepper kick that builds toward a clean, lingering finish.
Agricola Maraviglia has tied its growth to a broader effort to bring overlooked groves back into production, working with local family farms and taking on small, family-owned orchards that have been left untended. The project has emphasized recovering knowledge and techniques associated with Tuscan olive cultivation, while focusing on stewardship of the landscape and the people connected to it.
Founded by Francesco Piattelli Palmarini, Agricola Maraviglia began in 2019 in the hills near Arezzo. Piattelli Palmarini grew up in what later became the farmhouse, surrounded by a hundred olive trees, before spending 15 years abroad, including a decade in New York working in communication, branding and design. He later returned to Tuscany, applying those skills to a small-scale agricultural project aimed at producing high-quality olive oil while nurturing the land that shaped him.
The estate’s agricultural roots stretch back nearly 400 years, when a colony of tenant farmers settled the property and practiced a form of polyculture common at the time. That history has informed the producer’s approach, which has sought to reintroduce diversified farming to support biodiversity and improve the resilience of the local environment.
On the olive side, Piattelli Palmarini has focused on caring for ancient trees on the property, including trees that survived the severe frost of 1985. Some were damaged and later regenerated from the stumps, developing split trunks with multiple branches, while others emerged with large, established structures that now form part of the farm’s living heritage.
Agricola Maraviglia has also expanded by rehabilitating neighboring neglected plots after observing that rising costs and a lack of generational turnover led many families to abandon groves that once supplied household oil. By agreements with owners of these plots, the producer has been able to maintain multiple orchards, often in parcels of 100 to 200 trees, and select fruit each year based on seasonal conditions to support the desired balance in the blend.
With his wife, Francesca Gambato, Piattelli Palmarini manages about 1,300 olive trees, many on steep, terraced terrain supported by old dry stone walls. The layout makes mechanical harvesting impractical, requiring a manual harvest that aligns with the producer’s emphasis on careful fruit handling. The terraced environment also suits Moraiolo—known locally as Morellino—a rustic variety associated with the area’s traditional plantings.
For milling, Agricola Maraviglia works with a local mill equipped with modern machinery that is updated annually. Alongside olive production, the farm has pursued other food projects rooted in local raw materials, including miso, tamari and shoyu produced from Tuscan ingredients, supported by an on-site laboratory for closed-cycle production.
The 2026 Gold adds to a strong record at the NYIOOC for Agricola Maraviglia, which has earned five Gold Awards and one Silver Award overall. In the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, Agricola Maraviglia is ranked #30 in Italy, #67 in the Northern Hemisphere and #70 Worldwide.
The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, widely regarded as the world's leading olive oil quality contest, is a trusted reference for consumers and industry professionals.