Ceramic bottle with ribbed pattern for olive oil

Peranzana olive oil in a striped ceramic bottle from Apulia

Extra virgin olive oil made from 100% Peranzana olives, pressed by Frantoio Muraglia in Andria and bottled in a hand-painted ceramic vessel. Delicately fruity rather than pungent, mild rather than bitter – an oil for fish and tomatoes, not for heavy roasts.

The olive oil in the striped ceramic bottle is the classic from Frantoio Muraglia and the piece by which you recognize the house. 500 ml of extra virgin olive oil from the Peranzana olive, sealed with a cork, and protected by brightly striped ceramics. Over the years, the rainbow has become the family's trademark – you don't hide this bottle in the cupboard; you put it on the table.

Delicately fruity, with notes of tomato and arugula

The Peranzana produces a golden-yellow oil with green reflections that tastes of ripe tomato, arugula, and radish, with a hint of artichoke in the background.

The tag says "delicately fruity," and that is exactly how the oil behaves: very little bitterness, hardly any pungency, and no scratchy spike in the throat. It does not push itself to the fore. Drizzled over steamed fish, it lets the fish shine, and on a piece of warm bread, you will recognize it immediately by its tomato note.

It is classically served over seafood with cherry tomatoes, steamed fish, or a salad of ripe tomatoes with Flor de Sal. A minestrone also benefits from half a teaspoon drizzled raw on top just before serving. For hearty braised dishes, you are better off reaching for a Coratina oil – the Peranzana is its more refined sister.

From olive to oil in 24 hours

At Muraglia, there is a maximum of 24 hours between harvest and the mill. The shorter this span, the less time the fruit has to ferment, and the clearer the flavor remains in the finished oil.

It is ground in old stone mills and cold-pressed. The family cultivates the 40 hectares of olive groves around Andria without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and whatever wants to grow between the trees is allowed to do so. Healthy soil bears a healthy tree, and a healthy tree bears olives that can become something special.

Andria calls itself the city of oil, and that is no mere coquetry: around the city, there are groves older than most of the houses within it. The Peranzana comes from northern Apulia and is considered the mild variety there, where the robust Coratina otherwise sets the tone.

Hand-formed, fired, and painted

The ceramic bottle is created in a workshop in the Murgia, the limestone plateau behind Andria: turned, fired, and painted by hand, ring by ring. As a result, no two bottles are exactly alike.

The clay keeps out the light, and light is the enemy of every olive oil. What began as practical protection became the house's trademark. Savino Muraglia manages the business in the fifth generation and bears the name of the grandfather who started it all in Andria. The true patriarch of the family, however, stands in the grove: a Coratina tree approximately 450 years old.

Once the bottle is empty, it shouldn't be discarded. Rinse it with warm water, dry it well, and refill it from a tin or canister – that is what it was built for. It should be kept in a dark and cool place, but not in the refrigerator, and the oil itself prefers to be consumed within a year.

If you want to work your way through the motifs, from sardines to lobsters to octopuses, you can find them all in the Frantoio Muraglia collection. The same Peranzana, but a different artistic signature on the bottle every time. And a good splash of it belongs on top of sardines in olive oil anyway.