"We combine experience, tradition, and innovation with deep respect for the land of Sicily, understanding that we are only guests here and with a commitment to leaving the best present we can imagine for the future." The project to create Miceli & Sensat as a pioneering agricultural reality was born in 2017 from the desire of Paolo Miceli and Sergio Sensat, united by a deep passion and connection with the olive trees that have been at the center of their family life for generations. After spending years dividing their time between agriculture and work in the communication field in Spain, in 2015, they decided to concentrate their efforts on a single common project in Sicily, where they finally settled in 2020. An innovative reality that, after winning last year's award for best new entry, was awarded the "company of the year" recognition this year during the presentation of the Oli d'Italia guide in Verona on the occasion of Vinitaly - Sol Agrifood.
The company looks to the future
In the splendid territory between Monreale and Lake Garcia, immersed in an uncontaminated area of inland Sicily, Paolo Miceli's maternal family bought 230 hectares mainly destined for wheat cultivation. Today, there are about 115 hectares of certified organic olive groves, with around 50,000 trees, using a sub-irrigation system with water from the company's two lakes, thus ensuring optimal water resource management without waste. The varieties currently cultivated represent the two souls of the company, combining Paolo's Italian heritage with the three main autochthonous cultivars of this area of Sicily - Nocellara del Belice, Biancolilla, and Cerasuola - and Sergio's Spanish heritage with the two most important Spanish varieties, Picual and Arbequina.
The peculiarity is that all the plants, both Italian and Spanish, have been grafted onto Sicilian wild olive trees, going against the current trend of planting cloned olive trees and instead returning to the traditional method of olive propagation. A predominantly olive-growing vocation that has not left behind the cereal tradition of Sergio's family and this territory. In fact, in the rest of the property, about a hundred hectares, ancient Sicilian grains are still cultivated with the aim of contributing to their preservation and revaluation.
The mill at the center of the olive grove
"To produce unique aromatic profiles full of the aromas of our land, we have chosen a state-of-the-art mill, with a cooling system for the olives in case of high temperatures during the harvesting period, which allows processing the fruits at low temperatures and minimizing the natural oxidation that occurs during processing by using noble gases during milling. Thanks to this technology, expertly used by our master miller, we can extract the maximum aromas and preserve all the healthy and antioxidant components of our olives."
What Paolo Miceli describes is a cutting-edge plant located right in the heart of the olive grove, ensuring that the olives are processed within a 2-hour timeframe from harvesting. Once the precious green gold is extracted, it is immediately filtered and stored under nitrogen in stainless steel containers at controlled temperatures to preserve its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics for as long as possible.
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