OUR STORY: BELETIĆ FAMILY, AL TORCIO OLIVE MILL

THE BELETIĆ BROTHERS MADE THEIR FATHER'S DREAM COME TRUE

The Beletić family opened their olive mill in Al Torcio on 16th October, 2000. However, the tradition of olive growing and oil production is much older, dating back to 1945.

LINO BELETIĆ

After 11 years of running the Novigrad restaurant and guesthouse ‘Torci 18,’ which was the first private guesthouse in Istria, Tranquilino ‘Lino’ Beletić, the entrepreneur from Novigrad, opened an olive oil processing plant in the Novigrad settlement named Strada Contessa.

During wartime, tourism offered a modest and unstable income, so the Beletić family decided to use the resources available to them - their own olive grove - and start their own oil mill. “The nearby oil mill did not want to accept olive batches weighing less than 100kg, and my wife Đurđa couldn’t process the 20kg of freshly picked olives. She was even told to throw them to the chickens,” said Lino. “That's what prompted me to open an oil mill where people could bring as little as 10kg of olives at a time.” Crowds and delays in delivery were additional reasons why Lino and his family decided to put an end to the local population’s troubles by providing them with a much sought-after oil mill. Their family oil mill is unique because it also accepts small amounts of olives for processing.

Lino had a clear vision from the very beginning and he pursued it. His dream was “a boutique oil mill where golden, homemade olive oil will flow, and be respected by the people.”

Tranquilino's wish, with the support of friends, came true in 2000 with the construction and commissioning of his own oil mill: 'Al Torcio.'

THE MOST MODERN OIL PLANT IN CROATIA

By constantly staying up-to-date in olive oil production, processing only quality raw materials and investing in mechanisation, the Beletićs’ oil mill has become synonymous with top-quality products. The effort and quality were soon recognised with awards and medals from international olive oil competitions, culminating in the listing of their olive oil in the global catalogue of the best olive oils, 'L'extravergine 2005,’ now called 'Flos Olei.' The criteria of this guide are known to be extremely strict and professional, and to this day the Beletićs’ olive oils have been listed in this catalogue every year since, which says it all about the consistency in the quality of their oils. In addition to awards for quality from international competitions, they are pioneers in the production of extra virgin olive oil of the highest quality in Croatia.

THE MOST MODERN LINE OF PIERALISI PLANTS WAS IMPORTED FROM ITALY

Tranqulino passed on his respect and immense love for olive oil to the rest of his family. Đurđica and their sons, Karmino and Kristijan, continue to build on the dream and vision of late husband and father Tranquilino Beletić, doyen of Istrian catering and olive growing in Novigrad, who sadly left them after a long illness. In his memory and honour, his family - who often joke that their extra virgin olive oil flows through their veins - opened the most modern olive mill within 500km on 12th October 2019, under the name of the famous and world-renowned brand Al Torcio.

In 2019, after years of dedicated work, came a very special and important event that represented the culmination and achievement of almost a quarter of a century of work, which had been started by Tranquilino in the mid-90s. It was an event that, sadly, he never got to experience himself: the replacement of the 20-year-old olive mill plant with a new one. Pieralisi's latest technology was implemented, which enables the production of even higher quality olive oil since it does not require the addition of water during processing. In addition, DMF (Decanter Multi Phase) technology provides higher oil yields with significantly lower energy consumption. The project was financed partly with a loan and partly with the family’s own funds, and was carried out and completed with co-financing from state subventions.

CERTIFICATE FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTION

Our special feature is the certificate we have obtained for organic production. Specifically, in the oil mill we have four malaxing units of 800 litres each, in which four batches of oil from four different manufacturers can be processed simultaneously, allowing us to clean the system between processing. Thus, there is no production waste following the previous production, which enables us to ensure each olive grower has their own pure, organic oil.

VIDEO - KARMINO BELETIĆ FOR THE MEDIA

“Such a modernised oil mill does not exist within a radius of 500km, or even in the nearby parts of northern Italy, so I am delighted that in Istria, the best olive growing region in the world, the first state-of-the-art olive oil plant was inaugurated. Another exceptional facet of this oil mill is that we use DMF technology – a multi-phase Leopard 5 decanter - whose processing capacity of two tons per hour means that the production is done in several phases. Previous machines have worked in two or three phases, depending on the choice, and each of these processes had its advantages and disadvantages. The method used today combines all the best aspects of the previous processes.”