Olives are obviously an important crop it Italy, but you haven’t seen olive trees until you visit Puglia. As far north as Bellagio you’ll find fields of olives here and there, but in Puglia they’re around every corner and as far as the eye can see. Most of the olive fields in places like Tuscany have been planted in nice neat rows with the trees pruned to a manageable size. You’ll find some of that in Puglia, but often times they’re stuck here and there growing like big oak trees, some over 600 years old. Locals are quick to tell you that most other regions in Italy import a lot of their olives from Puglia and then manufacture and label the oil from whatever region it’s bottled. I couldn’t help but stop and shoot a few of these strange old trees.
