When I drove down the small, bending road into the Lamone valley for the very first time, I almost caused an accident: all of a sudden, I saw a glimpse of the castle in my childhood's princess dreams and I had to stop, overwhelmed and speechless . But these roads weren't built for tourists with childhood dreams, so the Italians behind me started to honk and yell at me, what a rude awakening!
What I saw was just the Clock tower of the real castle, it crowns the top of a hill, overlooking the fairy tale landscape: olive tree fields and vineyards, dotted with farm houses. Olive oil and wine are the most important farm products in this area, grown by the people of the Lamone valley since Roman times - the very special microclimate and soil are just perfect here. After climbing the hill and indulging the princess-feeling, I was ready to focus on the olive - this is why I came here.
The local olive oil "Brisighello"
The Romans already settled in this area and built an oil mill in the 2nd century along the historic tradepath between Florence and Faenza. The mill used a special procedure where the olives were grinded, not pressed. This procedure is still in use and the 3000 l production per year rank among the best in Italy.
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| Donkey path in Brisighella |
Eventhough Brisighella is a small town, there is enough to see, like the via degli Asini: the historic donkey path, on which the chalk soil was transported down to town, the restaurants in a cave and of course, the clock tower and the castle ruin. Brisighella belongs to the most beautiful town in Italy (borghi piu belli dÌtalia)
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