Valerio and his family, lovers of luscious olive oil, who’s passions combine gardens (Morano Landscape Garden Design Ltd., Ridgeway Garden Center, Weaver Gardens) and food (Lago Ristorante & Wine Bar, Café La Fondita), proudly introduce their newest creation, oliveto Morano, extra virgin olive oil…Valerio and Angelo’s dream…from vision to reality.

When he was a teenager, Valerio Morano Sagliocco, would often talk with his grandfather, landscaper Angelo Morano, about planting olive trees in an underused section of the family’s ancestral estate in Souther Italy’s, Calabria region. Unfortunately, Angelo passed away a short time later in 2001.

However, Rosina, the eldest of Angelo’s three daughters and Val’s mother, planned to keep the dream alive. She planted 2,000, two-year-old olive trees. Since then, the trees have yielded an extra virgin, cold-pressed olive oil which is currently used and available for purchase at Lago Ristorante & Wine Bar.

The olive grove itself, is organically treated and totals about 30 acres. The family has always made wine as well as olive oil for its own consumption. (Originally, they had 500 olive and chestnut trees.) But with three-quarters of the new trees producing 7,000 liters of olive oil, it was time to turn an avocation into a vocation.