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C
NEW ORIGIN A lthough Italy is known for its strong love of istrieri, they manage La Finca Balistrieri, the oldest coffee

plantation in Italy, based in Santa Croce Camerina, in
coffee, it has never been considered a pro-
ducing country. The first person to place a
Ragusa, Sicily. Santa Croce Camerina is located in eastern
POSSIBILITIES: decided to begin growing them was Giovanni Balistrieri. Sicily and the average annual temperature here is 22 de-
bet on coffee plant cultivation in Sicily and
grees Celsius and there is about 262 mm of rain in a year.
It is about an acre long and planted with coffee and trop-
Nowadays, he’s 78 years old and the young generation
ical fruits such as papaya and pitaya as well as oranges,
continues to carry on what he started. Adriano Cafiso is
SICILY a part of this generation. He began with an academic mulberries, pistachios and olives. There are about 150
coffee trees, 90 of which are 4-11 years old and more than
research on the life cycle of coffee, and then he came
across the possibility of working as a coffee buyer for an
60 of which are 17 years old. The coffee plants continued
Italian roastery. This allowed him to get to know and to
to grow without producing any notable harvest for over
live in countries where coffee was produced. He spent
10 kg of coffee cherries were harvested. “Our coffee
most of his life in various farms during the harvest and 17 years until May 2022, when for the first time, around
processing period, trying to help the farmers with their ended up having orange, almond and carob notes and a
production. In Sicily, he and his neighbor Giovanni Bal- soft body,” Adriano told us.

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