(14th century)

Between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, the south of Italy bore witness to exhausting conflicts between families contending for power. Ruggero Rufolo, head of the noble Rufolo family of Ravello could no longer bear the bloody battles that were devastating the land of his birth and decided to flee, hoping to find peace and tranquillity in Giovinazzo. He was soon to realise that this town was also torn apart by feuds between local families and he wrote about this with some bitterness: “Tristo me che venni a far lo nido allo perazzo se saglio o scendo tutto mi strazzo” (Poor me, I come to make a nest in the tree but if I climb up or down I hurt myself)”

Despite this, Ruggero did not give up and set about taking on a new project: he found a place far from the city, where in 1307 he built a fortified farmhouse dedicated to the production and conservation of olive oil. The building was so imposing that in Giovinazzo it became known as the “Castellum dei Rufolo”. This forward-thinking project soon became the centre for olive pressing in the areas of Giovinazzo and Bitonto. The production of olive oil continued in the following centuries, despite dramatic events such as its sacking in1529 at the hands of Giovan Battista Caracciolo, Duke of Melfi. It remained active, and in 1590 Lupo Antonio De Angelis founded the first cooperative for the olive farmers of Giovinazzo, showing the vital importance of this activity for the area, known today as one of the major centres for olive oil production in the world.