Le Cerque and Le Cerque dell’Est
oliodop@lecerque.com - bedandbreakfast@lecerque.com
An introduction (page 2 of 3)
About 2700
years ago ........ the Sabines used to be settled where the village
of Collevecchio is today. Legend tells that the early inhabitants of Rome,
who had not enough women to marry, abducted some Sabine girls to marry
them. Tito Livio wrote in his opera that these wives from Sabine had a
peaceful lifestyle and were perfect
housewives. We could even suppose that they softened
their rough husbands with dishes dressed with delicious olive oil - typical
product of Sabine - and the small cakes made of honey, walnuts and bay
leaf, that the women of Collevecchio still prepare with. In a necropolis of archaeological interest, in
Poggio Sommavilla, not far from Collevecchio, some finds have let us know
more about the ancient Sabine women and their relationship with olive oil. A woman was buried in her tomb with her five dogs,
surrounded by her bronze sandals and a big jar for the best olive oil
probably from her own farm. In another tomb a small clay bottle engraved with
the most ancient written text of Sabina (see picture) was found. The
content of the small bottle consisted in a perfumed olive oil. This piece
of art is actually kept in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (USA). “all the Sabina country is exceptionally rich of olive trees” (Strabo V,3,7). .
cancello dell’aziendarate qui
return to the previous page go to next
page member of Best of Sabina
