Gino Taibi shown above with his American consuocero, Tom Sturiale
Montaperto, September 2000

"L'Olio d'Oliva e' il segreto di lunga vita e luminosi sorrisi" ("Olive Oil is the secret to long life and bright smiles.") - Gino Taibi

Gino's son married Tom's daughter in a feudal church in Montaperto village, just down the road from the olive yard. Coincidentally, Tom's grandparents are from Sicily too, though he was born in the US. The newlyweds now split their time between Sicily and the US, providing a unique opportunity for the Taibi's to share the family's green gold with you - unprocessed, unmediated by distributors, no lies - it's the real thing. And now, it's an international family affair.

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Map of Montaperto, Sicily

The Taibi family is rooted in Montaperto, Sicily, a small, hilltop village of 500 people overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. In Montaperto there is a street named Taibi and a small altar in the five hundred year old village church is a Taibi family gift. Montaperto boasts a bar, two churches, a butcher, a baker, and a piazza overlooking the sea. It is the ancestral source for this Italian-American story.

Gerlando Taibi, aka Gino, grew up on the family farmlands near the village. He remembers his mother washing clothes in the stone basin that still sits just outside the house. He also remembers the military skirmishes among the almond, olive and orange trees of his countryside home that marked the end of WW2. When he was a boy, his father harvested everything from beans to roses. After a successful career as a doctor in the neighboring city of Agrigento and the death of his father, Gino decided to return to his father's land and revive it by focusing on his father's olive fruit trees.

He expanded the number of olive trees and now Azienda Agricola Taibi carefully tends 1500 trees and pressesextremely high quality extra virgin olive oil in limited quantities. Gino integrates the agricultural knowledge of his father with new insights into organic growing methods and quality assurance standards. For years, Olio Taibi was available only to friends, family and local distributors.

In 1998, Gino's son, Giuseppe, traveled to Boston to seek new challenges and opportunities in high tech and unexpectedly met his wife. Nita Sturiale, also of Sicilian heritage, and Giuseppe married in the previously mentioned village church before an audience of American and Sicilian family and friends along with most of Montaperto's residents.

Driven by the stories of Nita's great-grandparents in Altofonte, Sicily, and a love for organic gardening, Nita was easily brought into the family project. Based part-time in Boston and working closely with Gino and Giuseppe's brother, Francesco, in Sicily, Nita and Giuseppe are now making the family olive oil available in the US.

The Taibi family is also working towards the creation of a consortium of small independent olive growers in the surrounding area of Montaperto in an effort to improve the harsh conditions of local farmers and their families.

The consortium will produce high quality extra virgin olive oil and follow a fair trade pricing model that keeps small Sicilian farmers farming and puts healthy olive oil on more dining tables.

The Taibi family believes that working towards sustainable economies and fair trade are fundamental to international peace, human rights, and preserving the joys of cultural and culinary experience. In the words of Giuseppe Taibi, "This is our way of contributing - it's a slow, meaningful process with long-term affects. Dai tempo al tempo (give time its time)."