The Land Keeps Its Secrets
The Brunitta farm was born of the family’s love of the countryside and stands in the fields of Minervino, in the heart of Salento. The same thinking runs through Cala dei Balcani: deep respect for the land, work done by hand, loyalty to tradition.
“The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learnt to cultivate the olive and the vine.” — Thucydides, Greek historian
Olive Oil
Extra Virgin & Real
Since the first half of the 1990s the farm has made oil the traditional way, with the same care our fathers gave the land.
The olive trees are grown by natural methods only, which best preserve the character of the fruit. Harvesting begins in October, before the olives are fully ripe, and pressing is done cold, by mechanical means only.
The result is an aromatic, decisive, full-bodied oil, rich in polyphenols — and a fixture on the tables of Cala dei Balcani: in the wedding dishes, in the salads, on the welcome bruschetta.
Senatore Cappelli
Wheat
Alongside the oil, the farm grows wheat of the variety Senatore Cappelli: an ancient cereal from this area, born of a cross between a North African variety and a highly productive one trialled in the Apulian countryside.
Grown since 1915 on the Tavoliere plain of Puglia, for sixty years it was the backbone of the Italian pasta industry and of pasta’s reputation worldwide.
The farm works daily for the revival of Italian grain growing, betting on seed biodiversity and on the richness it carries, kept intact by stone milling. These flours become the fresh pasta and the bread served to your guests.
- An ancient variety, grown since 1915
- Stone milled
- Care for seed biodiversity
- The historic basis of Italian pasta
Three Thousand Years of Olive Trees
The Apulian landscape has always held the memory of the olive, wild and cultivated alike.
Olive growing reaches south-eastern Salento, inland from Otranto: Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans pass on the finer farming techniques to the people here.
Olive oil gains standing and commercial weight: it is produced in quantity and exported to the rest of Italy and abroad.
Many writers record Puglia among the most productive olive regions already in antiquity. These trees speak of an age that is gone, and that survives in its finest form.
From the Land to the Wedding Table
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cold mechanical pressing. Aromatic, decisive, full-bodied, rich in polyphenols: the green heart of Salento.
Senatore Cappelli Flour
Stone-milled Senatore Cappelli wheat. For the fresh pasta, the bread and the local desserts at your reception.
The Shortest Chain
From the field to the kitchen at Cala dei Balcani in under 24 hours. You can taste the difference.
Natural Methods
Grown by natural methods only: respect for the land, and for whoever eats what it gives.