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Azienda Agricola Le Fontacce di Botti Simone
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Slow Food Presidium 
Le Fontacce, a typical Tuscan farm surrounded by olive trees, is situated on the hills at the slopes of the Pratomagno mountain. You can reach the farm driving along the Seven Bridges Road, the ancient Etruscan Cassia Vetus, from which You can admire an enchanting view on the Arno Valley. The valley which is in front of the Chianti hills, is characterized by the presence of the prehistorical cliffs, known as “le Balze”.
Our company Le Fontacce was founded in 2008 from an existing farm which was built in XIX century; its products are all organic and certified.
We cultivate olive trees, legumes, saffron and iris, with passion and respect for our traditions.
Also called the bean of the hundred (because it is sown on the hundredth day of the year) or burrino bean, the zolfino is small, globular, yellow with a paler eye spot. It has always been cultivated between the Arno and Pratomagno, in the province of Arezzo. It loves poor soils and does not survive in the plains, because its root system - extremely superficial - does not tolerate the slightest water stagnation. It is sown in April, often on the terraces under the olive trees, so that the water runs off, between the stones of the dry-stone walls. Despite the thin skin, zolfino beans can handle cooking very well and once cooked, they are dense and melt in mouth like butter. They are eaten boiled, seasoned with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and placed on slices of toasted Tuscan bread, or served as a side dish of Fiorentina. In families, it is still customary to cook them for a whole night in the flask or in a pan placed in a wood oven, after having baked the bread.
Production area
Western slopes of the Pratomagno mountains: Castiglion Fibocchi, Latrina, Loro Ciuffenna, Terranuova Bracciolini, Castelfranco di Sopra and Piandiscò municipalities, Arezzo province and Reggello municipality, Florence province, Tuscany region
Seasonality
Zolfino beans are harvested between the end of July and early August and are available dried year round
Italian olive growing, with its immense heritage of olive trees, farmers and olive-pressers that populate the peninsula right down to the southernmost islands, is experiencing a moment of extreme difficulty. The crisis is linked to the process of industrialization of olive cultivation, with the creation of new mechanized machinery and increasingly technological processes, oils of quality less competitive. The age of olive trees, hundreds or even thousands of years old, spread across the peninsula, further contribute to making the production of Italian extra virgin olive oil more demanding and costly. Thus, the market, oriented towards the lowest price, increasingly rewards low quality oils. For this reason Slow Food has created a national Presidium that promotes the environmental, aesthetic, economic, and health value of Italian extra virgin olive oil. It is a national project because producers of extra virgin all over Italy, in different areas of production, face the same crisis.
Organic Zolfino Bean: the Zolfino Bean reveals the nobility and the pride of its origins in the hills around the Seven Bridges Road and the valley floor, welcomed by the thin soil of the cliffs.
The Zolfino Bean owes its name to its pale yellow color, similar to the sulfur; it has a round shape and its texture is creamy and exceptionally tasty. This bean doesn’t require to be soaked, it can be cooked in a crock-pot or even better in a flask for at least three hours. Served with extra virgin olive oil, it offers an irreplaceable combination that can satisfy the most refined palate.
Traditionally it is sown on the hundredth day of the year, also known as “Giorno del Cento”. Its growing is strictly conditioned by the climate and it often produces a restricted harvest, that’s why its cultivation in the past was almost abandoned, preferring beans with a higher yeld. Actually it is safe from the extintion and its seeding and harvest are protected by a producers association. From 2018 the Zolfino Bean becomes Presidio Slow Food.
Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil: our olive groves are cultivated on the antique dry-stone walls which characterize the landscape and are built to support the hill. Their regular structure is fundamental for the health of the olive trees, contributing on the production of a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Our property, situated at an elevation of 400 meters, includes 3000 trees of different botanical variety (above all Moraiolo, Frantoio and Leccino olives). The olive trees are cultivated with green manure and certified natural fertilizer; the wild grass around the trees, once it is cut, is left on the ground to increase the soil quality with organic substances and to restrict the loss of soil water.
For a better condition of the trees and for a constant production of olives, every year we prune our plants. The harvest of olives starts in October when they begin to get ripened. This process is made with specific electrical tools and nets, then to avoid the oxidation they’re brought immediately at the olive oil mill. Olives are pressed at low temperature with a continuous cycle system, the extracted extra virgin olive oil is immediately filtered and put inside stainless still containers in inert gas atmosphere to mantain the taste and the smell of the freshly pressed oil.
The farm, starting from October 2018, has its own private olive oil mill, in this way the production process of extra virgin olive oil is better and faster. It allows to press the olive on the same day of the harvest, avoiding olive oxidation – the process that begins when olives are harvested by the trees – and maintaining unchanged characteristics until the pressing process. The result is a first quality extra virgin olive oil, which maintains better its single smell and vitamins.
The production scarps of the olive oil mill are good resources for the farm. The pomace, which is the remaining part of olive pulp obtained by the pressing process, is brought back to the olive grove as an excellent natural fertilizer for the soil. Regarding the olive pits, they are used for heating the water and the farm buildings.
Pictures of the products and the farm
Last modified: 21 Jan 2022
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