DANIEL: People began growing olives more than five thousand years ago.
And you can see olive trees everywhere you go in Italy.
These olives are used to make olive oil. And Italians put it on absolutely everything.
It even tastes delicious just on bread. But how do you get from the olive on a branch to a bottle of olive oil?
We wanted to find out. So we're going to help Francesca pick olives and see exactly how the oil is made.
FRANCESCA: Ciao, bambini! Ciao!
DANIEL: Oggi andiamo a raccogliere le olive.
FRANCESCA: Avete mai raccolto le olive?
ALL: No!
FRANCESCA: Ecco per voi i rastrelli.
Uno. Due. E tre.
DANIEL: These strange little rakes are known as rastrelli. First, they have to lay out the nets: le reti. To catch the olives as they fall.
FRANCESCA: Ecco, bambini.
Adesso si inizia a raccogliere le olive. Vedete la tela, com'è stata messa. Loro stanno mettendo le canne per fissare la rete. Daniel, vuoi vedere come si raccogliono le olive?
DANIEL: Sì.
FRANCESCA: Ecco. Allora, prendiamo questo ramo, ad esempio. Ci passiamo il pettine. Guarda. Sei in grado di farlo?
DANIEL: Sì.
FRANCESCA: Bravo.
DANIEL: È difficile!
Com'è bello raccogliere le olive.
We're doing well, but Buki hasn't quite got the hang of it.
FRANCESCA: Ecco, Buki. Ti faccio vedere come si raccoglie con un pochino più di forza. Si passa il rastrello attraverso i rami.
BUKI: Che fatica!
DANIEL: We have to pick the olives at exactly the right time of year. From the end of October to mid-November.Francesca says the olives are actually a fruit. So they need to ripen, just like apples.
Finally, it's time to gather up our olives and tip them into crates.
Now, it's time to see the oil being made.
We're going to the olive mill. Il frantoio.
The crate is full of olives and very heavy. Molto pesante.
It's so noisy in here. We have to use sign language. Questa è la macina.
It's used to crush the olives into an oily paste.
They even leave the stones in.
Then the paste is put on these round mats. I dischi.
Then they're stacked up and taken to be pressed. Questa è la pressa.
The olive oil drips out very slowly. Piano piano.
So you have to be patient. Now, the oil needs to be separated and filtered before it's ready to taste.
Even though the olives are different colours, the olive oil is always a bright greeny yellow.
Che giallo! Che gustoso! It's delicious!
It's the end of the day for us.
But a big olive tree can have half a million olives on it.
The frantoio will have to work right through the night.
At the end of October, we join Daniel and Buki picking olives and learning how to make olive oil and to use rakes and nets.
This clip is from the BBC2 series, Being Italian.
Teacher Notes
This clip could be used to teach pupils about the origins of food and food production. Before watching the clip, the pupils can be divided into groups and given pictures of all of the items required in the production of olive oil. Then you could ask them to discuss how these items are used and what the possible sequence of the process could be, before watching the clip to observe the process in action.
The pupils could discuss the notion of typical and/or national foods from Italy, comparing them to those from other countries. This topic can be linked to more general lessons on health and nutrition.
The clip could also be used as a starting point for learning about vocabulary that is relevant to food, where pupils are encouraged to use a range of expressions to describe, such as ‘delizioso’, ‘è buono’, ‘mi piace’, ‘che gustoso’."
Curriculum Notes
This video is relevant for teaching Italian at KS2 in England and Wales, KS2 in Northern Ireland and second level in Scotland.
Welcome to Rome. video
Daniel and Buki present their favourite Roman sights in Italian, including the Roman Forum, the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain and the Appian Way.
A day at an Italian primary school. video
Buki introduces her primary school, her teacher and friends. We find out about their favourite subjects, what they eat for lunch, and what their favourite games are at playtime.
Playing frisbee and football in Rome. video
Daniel and his friends enjoy playing Frisbee in the Circo Massimo in Rome, but what he loves most is training with his football team after school.
Making a Roman pizza. video
Buki and her friend learn how to make Roman pizza from an Italian chef, including baking it in the wood oven.
