FARM
DAVIDE GUIDO
RANZO
DAVIDE GUIDO
RANZO
7th - 9th
CENTURY
Guido is a name of Germanic origin, already attested in the contracted form Wido or Wito from the 7th century, hence in the Lombard era, which appears in Italy in the Romanized form Guido or Guidus with the arrival of these populations as early as the 9th century, to spread and become common between the 11th and 12th centuries.
11th - 12th
CENTURY
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, more precisely in the period from 1050 to 1250, the territory of Ranzo is progressively settled by families coming from nearby locations, attracted by the easily cultivable land well exposed to the sun, rising on the hilly slope among the least steep in the area and, therefore, more profitably terraced by the creation of characteristic 'terraces'.
15th - 16th
CENTURY
Among the families that settled in Ranzo were certainly also the Guido, of whom there is certain trace from 1412, when the vicar of Bishop Fieschi of Albenga appointed the priest Filippo Guido from Ranzo ('de Rancio') as the archpriest of Pogli. The Church of San Pantaleo, erected in the 15th century on a pre-existing church from the Romanesque era of the 11th century on the valley floor road, is embellished by the works of the Guido da Ranzo, painters active from the fourth decade of the 15th century in Genoa and then in the Ligurian hinterland for at least the first four decades of the 16th century.
16th - 18th
CENTURY
A direct consequence of its genesis is the pronounced agricultural vocation of the municipal territory, which almost immediately saw a coexistence of subsistence agriculture, typical of the poorest families of laborers, with some sizable realities in the hands of a few who over time had secured the best lands. Over time, agricultural economy has predominantly seen the cultivation of olive and grapevines develop, thanks to the tenacious terracing of the slopes that allowed for the exploitation of every available inch of land, the two activities that could guarantee greater income through the marketing of oil and wine.
19th
CENTURY
Between 1700 and 1800, throughout Liguria, thanks to the development of trade with foreign countries, there was a growing demand for olive oil, and every coastal town had its own dock for the shipment of this product. In addition to the quantitative increase due to the higher demand, the progressive transition from hand-picking most of the olives fallen on the ground due to their excessive ripening to the beating on nets allowed for a decisive improvement in the quality of the fruit and, consequently, of the extracted oil. The creation of a modern cooperative mill in 1953 in the hamlet of Canata (the Ranzo and Valle Arroscia Social Oil Mill, of which our family is among the founding members) gave all members the opportunity to crush their own olives directly at lower costs and to market the oil obtained from them directly.
20th
CENTURY
More recently, in the late 1980s, the awarding of the Denomination of Controlled Origin to the wines of the Ligurian Riviera, including Pigato, has made known and enhanced this product of absolute excellence, deeply linked to the particular terroir of Ranzo which, with its soil rich in minerals and the climate characterized by appreciable autumnal temperature fluctuations, allows it to express its peculiar aromas to the fullest. Thus, Pigato has gone from being the wine 'of festivities,' made in small quantities and only consumed on the most important occasions, to being an ambassador of this territory in the world.
21st
CENTURY
These initiatives have ensured an adequate income for the farmers who, with their presence and hard work, only partially mechanizable due to the narrow terraces, have continued to carry out the important task of safeguarding the territory. It is in this context that the family business, passed down from great-great-grandfather Donato to great-grandfather Giovanni, and then to grandfather Natale, transformed into the current company which over time has acquired new land and now spans approximately four and a half hectares of olive groves, exclusively of the Taggiasca variety, and one and a half hectares of vineyard, entirely cultivated with Pigato. The sale of extra virgin olive oil and Pigato D.O.C. is carried out both at our headquarters, located in a historic family residence in the Borgo di Ranzo, and through courier delivery throughout Italy.
