The Olive Tree...
"the piece comes to life from the passion to create, from what is inborn within it …I help to bring it out …
…I also enjoy shaping living trees, without straining
them, following their individual tendencies…"
The names “olivo” and “ulivo” come from the latin “olivum”, from the ablative “olive”, “olivo of oleum” which in its turn comes from the archaic Greek ἔλαιϝον èlaiwon, classically ἔλαιον élaion; the form “ulivo” like “uliva” is more common in Tuscany but is widespread in other parts of Italy, although in a poetical/literary context. However, the form “olivo” is found largely in scientific writings and is typical in the Trentino, parts of Sardinia, Emilia-Romagna and northern Latium. “Aulivo, alivo and avulivo” are mainly found in the South.
The tree plays a key role in the history of the civilisations around the Mediterranean basin and the whole of the West.
It features in many legends. One of these is Greek in origin and tells how Athena wanting to bless mankind planted her lance in the ground, from which the first olive branch grew. Another speaks of an olive tree collected by Hercules from the edge of the world, the site of Zeus’s sacred wood, the fronds of which were plaited into crowns for the victors of the Olympic Games. Another tale concerning the olive tells how its branch was carried by a dove to Noah as a sign that the universal flood was at an end. However it has been established that the first wild olives existed on the island of Crete 4,000 years before Christ. The Cretans specialized in the cultivation of these plants, which were later exported to the whole Mediterranean basin.
