The Olive Oil Route

“It’s part of who we are”

— Resident of Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo

The clear and strong notion of sensitivity and identification between the person and the natural environment is incorporated in a structure of relationships intrinsic to the great asset that is civilization and culture. Naturally, by bequeathing meaning to our life and doubting, questioning and acquiring answers, we find a necessary balance in the Man/Nature relationship. In this message translated and practically offered by bygone times, we find consciences based on globalization and markets of assumptions and certainties, linked together by a series of paradoxes — on the one hand, we are the result of equality, opportunity, identity and heritage of political values, economic, religious, social and cultural aspects of a population group. However, individualism occupies more and more space in today’s society, covering the causes and consequences of globalization with a film of contempt and intolerance, thus conceiving a trigger for several problems. Following the themes related to sustainability, culture and heritage, there is the possibility of emphasizing emotion as the basis for recognizing unique stories and expressing them through tools that were once considered not to be exclusive to certain classical areas.

The virtual itinerary that connects the mountains to the sea by a thread of olive oil… this is the project that arises from the joint research action iHERITAGE — the exhibition of the entire process inherent to the olive growing activity in the municipality of Tavira, not neglecting a detailed presentation about the olive oil manufacturing process and functionality in the production chain, as well as its didactic interpretation and dissemination of information on the protection and conservation of this Algarve heritage and on research at the historical level of an industry that dates back to Classical Antiquity.

The virtual route seeks to promote and disseminate the Algarve’s cultural heritage to its local tourist community, for a better understanding of the preservation and enhancement of heritage, revealing to the public various aspects of the rural world and its relationship with the city that polarizes it. With an attractive graphic image and a dynamic speech, where the idea underlying the choice and arrangement of each object is, more than telling the story of our Mediterranean diet, a meeting with the testimonies of those who inhabit the countryside today and their perspectives of life.

In the field work and in the investigation process of one of the main traditional knowledge and crafts of the Tavirense county, the importance of the geographical and cultural context of the olive, olive and olive oil testimonies begins with a simple intriguing question — Where does this one travel Intangible Heritage?