About a month or so ago we took a trip to San Giovanni in Venere which is located a short distance from here near the town of Fossacesia.

Right near the Abbey can be found the oldest olive tree in Abruzzo.

The following is the text of the sign that is next to the tree

THE GREAT OLIVE

Officially recorded by hand and placed within the Rome Record Office it is written:

“Regia Badia di San Giovanni…on the hills of the Adriatic Sea, on the full and Conspicuous horizon, over the Great Olive Grove, exists a big temple by the name of San Giovanni in Venere”.

During the XII Century, the Abbey of San Giovanni, was built along with the Great Olive Grove on the ruins of a pagan temple dedicated to the goddess Venus. This olive tree is the sole specimen of the most ancient olive tree in the province of Abruzzo. In 2003 Mr. Giuseppe Ursini of the Ursini Extra Vergine Olive Oil Company, in collaboration with the cloistered monastery the “Padri Passionisti”, current owner of the site, accepted stewardship of this national treasure.
Years of neglect caused the health of the tree to be in a critical condition however the commitment by Mr. Ursini is to halt the current decline and restore it to vibrant health.

The great olive tree was declared a national monument along with the Abbey of San Giovannni in 1871.

So, from this we can surmise that the tree has been there since the XII century which would make it around 900 years old. If that trunk could only talk, what stories it would have to tell…..

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