Meet La Casina di Giannetto

Last updated: September 29, 2026

From Calabria to the Olives of Seggiano

La Casina di Giannetto is a family olive farm at Località Rubbioli, about 2 km from Seggiano. It sits on the slopes of Monte Amiata, inside the Seggiano DOP area. Seggiano itself stands at 491 m.

It makes Seggiano olive oil from a single local variety, the Olivastra Seggianese. Many of its trees are centuries old.

If you want to understand Seggiano olive oil through one family’s groves, this is a good place to start. The story is personal, the farming is specific, and the oil is made from nothing but the local olive.

Teresa’s story

The farm’s website tells the story. In the 1950s Teresa came north from Calabria as the bride of Aurelio, a Seggiano native.

She began by harvesting olives with her children. Little by little she acquired more and more trees.

A 2018 profile on That’s Amiata adds more. None of the children made farming a career, but they all help, and together they do the pruning.

The youngest son, Luciano, took up his mother’s teaching with enthusiasm. At the time of that profile, Teresa was still very active on the farm alongside her eldest son, Fernando.

A farm named for a donkey

The name has a simple source. Giannetto is a ciuchino (a little donkey). The farm’s website says he still runs in the surrounding fields.

The farm takes its name from an old outbuilding that was once his stable. In other words, this is the casina, or little house, of Giannetto.

He is not alone. A mule called Camilla and a dog called Florio also live on the farm.

The groves

In its 2018 harvest post, the farm describes more than ten hectares of olive groves. They lie in the “Conca d’Oro” (Golden Basin), a valley between Seggiano and Montegiovi. The same post puts the trees at about 500 to 600 m above sea level; That’s Amiata gives 450 m.

Many of the trees are centuries old. According to That’s Amiata, the oil is 100% Olivastra Seggianese.

Bringing Old Groves Back

Amiata Oleos

According to the Innovarurale network, some of the farm’s groves were abandoned and are to be recovered through “Amiata Oleos”. This is an integrated supply-chain project (a PIF, or progetto integrato di filiera) for the olive-oil sector. The farm is a member of the Seggiano DOP oil consortium.

The consortium was founded in 2002, driven by a group of Amiata entrepreneurs. Its website lists a closing event for Amiata Oleos on climate adaptation, landscape upkeep, and innovation.

The biochar project

Innovarurale also lists the farm in a biochar research project. Biochar is a soil improver made by charring organic material, such as wood.

It was a Tuscan research project that ran for 29 months, between 2020 and 2023. Its title translates as “Biochar: innovations obtained through carbonization tested in Amiata and Maremma“.

According to the same listing, the farm is interested in biochar for two reasons. It could improve the soil in new olive plantings. The farm could also supply wood for making it, from olive prunings and from restoring abandoned groves.

The Products

Seggiano DOP oil

The farm’s main product is its Seggiano DOP extra virgin olive oil. It is made from 100% Olivastra Seggianese, well above the DOP minimum.

Seggiano olive oil has been a DOP since 2011. The rules require at least 85% Olivastra Seggianese. The production area covers Arcidosso, Castel del Piano, Cinigiano, Roccalbegna, Santa Fiora, Seggiano, Semproniano, and part of Castell’Azzara.

The farm’s own product page quotes the DOP rules. They set acidity at no more than 0.50% and total polyphenols above 200 ppm. The page describes the oil as having the “singular aroma and taste” of the mountain olive.

Harvest and milling

According to That’s Amiata, the harvest runs from about 20 October to 20 November, and it is mechanized.

The farm’s own news page from the 2018 season gives a glimpse of this. It reports the machines at work and the nets laid out to catch the olives. It also notes that the first pressings that year gave a single-variety Olivastra oil.

That’s Amiata says the oil is extracted cold, in a continuous process with a disc crusher. The sources we checked do not say which mill presses the olives.

What’s in the bottle

That’s Amiata’s oil sheet describes a medium, balanced fruitiness, bitter and peppery. It notes flavors of green grass and artichoke.

The same sheet gives biophenols of 403 mg/kg. The DOP rules ask for total polyphenols above 200 ppm (the same unit as mg/kg).

Recognition

In 2024 the oil was one of 45 chosen for the “Selezione degli oli extravergine DOP e IGP della Toscana”. Regione Toscana promotes the selection with the Florence Chamber of Commerce, PromoFirenze, and Fondazione Sistema Toscana.

According to Il Giunco, nine of the 45 oils came from the province of Grosseto. The selection aims to showcase certified Tuscan oils and produces a catalog for promotion. It is a selection, not a prize.

Reading the label

When you buy Seggiano oil anywhere on Amiata, look for the DOP Seggiano designation on the label. According to the consortium, its members follow a shared production code, from growers through millers to bottlers.

A single-variety Olivastra oil, like this one, goes further than the rules require. If the variety matters to you, ask the producer.

A second line

The farm’s website also lists a second extra virgin olive oil, “Le Pusciane”. The site’s story page uses the same name for the olive business that grew from Teresa’s passion. Ask about it when you contact the family.

Visiting La Casina di Giannetto

Staying on the farm

The farm offers accommodation in a restored rustic house. It sleeps four, with a garden and a salt-water pool.

Staying here puts you on the western side of Amiata, within reach of its villages. Castel del Piano and Arcidosso are close by.

In Seggiano itself you can see the sanctuary of the Madonna della Carità, built between 1588 and 1603. The farm’s website puts Daniel Spoerri’s sculpture garden 3 km away.

Buying the oil

To ask about buying oil, or about a stay, get in touch through the farm’s website.

If you are staying elsewhere on Amiata, you will also find other Seggiano DOP oils in the villages of the production area.

The farm’s website does not list tastings or tours on the farm itself. Ask through the website before you arrive, and do not turn up unannounced.

When to go

Autumn is the olive season. If you come between late October and late November, you are likely to catch the harvest.

If you want to see the groves together with the rest of the mountain, our 4 Days on Monte Amiata itinerary passes nearby.

Information is provided in good faith and may change. Always confirm opening hours, prices, and event dates with the official source before you travel.