Amici ,
Amoré
By LYDIA HILL
A COLLEGE STATION WOMAN BRINGS A TASTE OF TUSCANY TO THE BRAZOS VALLEY
Carolyn Adair overlooked the Italian countryside of the Arno Valley and surveyed a grove of 100 ancient abandoned olive trees . With some trepidation , she asked : “ Will they make olives ?”
“ That ’ s how much I knew about this business I was getting into ,” Adair says with a laugh , as she recalls how 23 years earlier her olive oil endeavor came to be . Sinking into the cozy , floral sofa in her College Station home , Adair shares her many Italian experiences and the history of her olive oil business , Amici Italian Imports . As she speaks , the story springs to life like one of the flourishing olive trees in her photographs . Hers is a tale of potential , people , and passion for the flavors of Italy .
LYDIA HILL
Amici ’ s Roots A Houston native , Adair worked as Texas A & M University ’ s director of student activities for 31 years . During this time , she introduced students to new opportunities through study-abroad trips to Italy . “ They just lapped it up ,” she says . Many students later obtained international-related careers because of these experiences , she adds proudly .
These trips opened new doors for Adair as well . She says she quickly fell in love with the country and its people . She enjoyed spending time with the women in the kitchen where her group stayed . Although they initially viewed her as an outsider , her willingness to tackle the task of peeling carrots with a table knife soon earned her a place among them . “ It was so fun ,” she says . “ That ’ s how you get into the culture .”
Adair began to look into purchasing a home in Italy and found a centuries-old mill for sale that was the perfect size for an apartment . The building needed work and was stuffed with stored goods — and even a live chicken ! “ It was just filthy ,” she recalls . “ But I thought , Wow , this is my place .”
On one of her study abroad trips , Adair met Daniele Raspini , a young Italian man who picked her up one day when she was hitchhiking . The two formed a strong mother-son bond , and in 1998 , he sold a portion of his oliveto , or olive grove , to her . Much like her apartment , the trees were a mess when she first saw them . A long freeze in the mid-1980s had brought the branches to the ground where they became overgrown with brambles , but Adair was undaunted . She made the decision to retire from her position at Texas A & M and shifted her focus to her oliveto .
She asked Raspini to teach her how to care for the trees so that they would produce olives , and he readily
12 July 2021