Libellula
Olive oil, land, and slow living in the Roman Sabina.
Camillo and Julia, father and daughter, produce extra virgin olive oil in the hills north of Rome, where olive trees have shaped the landscape for over two thousand years.
The Roman Sabina is said to be where Augustus planted thousands of olive trees. Today, as many families walk away from their groves, Libellula chooses to preserve this heritage through a slower way of farming: every olive is hand-picked, grown without pesticides and pressed within twenty-four hours, preserving the vibrant flavour and natural qualities that time quickly takes away.
The dragonfly, libellula in Italian, became the family’s symbol for a reason. It cannot survive where the land has been heavily treated or the ecosystem is out of balance. Its presence is a quiet reminder that caring for the land is just as important as caring for the oil it produces.
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Camillo Franchi Scarselli never imagined he would become an olive grower.
For years, he ran a marketing agency in Rome. Everything changed when he moved to the hills of the Roman Sabina and discovered a landscape where olive trees had shaped both the land and the people for centuries.
At the same time, his daughter Julia was studying environmental science and architecture in the United States.
When she returned home, they both realised something alarming.
The groves that had defined the Sabina for generations were slowly disappearing: climate change had made harvests less predictable, production costs kept rising, young people were leaving the countryside, and for many families, continuing simply no longer made economic sense. Libellula was born as a response to that reality.
Not simply to produce olive oil, but to create a model that could make preserving these groves economically sustainable again.
Today, Libellula works with a network of small family growers around Palombara Sabina, helping preserve both the landscape and the knowledge behind it.
Their olive adoption programme allows people to support the restoration of abandoned groves, while every bottle reflects the same philosophy: olives harvested by hand, grown without pesticides and pressed within twenty-four hours of harvest to preserve the freshness, vibrant flavour and naturally high antioxidant content of the fruit.
In recent years, the family has also opened the doors of their home, welcoming just five guests at a time to experience the Roman Sabina through its olive groves, abbeys, imperial villas and slower rhythm of life.
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