Santagata in Genova Impresa

This article was published in the magazine Genova Impresa of Confidustria Genova in the December 2020 issue.
Our company – for over 110 years – has specialised in the selection and sales of high quality olive oils and extra virgin olive oils. Since then, we have been supplying the best olive oils in compliance with the most stringent European standards and through a strict quality and safety control system.
Our business began in 1907 with Giovanni Battista Santagata who, after years of experience in the wine industry, came into contact with olive oil and extra virgin olive oil producers and was fascinated by the goodness and richness of this product. He decided to concentrate only on high quality oil and founded the company that bears his name. Since then, five generations of the Santagata family have managed the company with the same passion, dedication and professionalism.
With his son Luigi, while maintaining the artisanal character of the production, the company’s boundaries were extended throughout Italy. With grandson Mario and great-grandson Massimo, the company opened up to international markets and the headquarters were moved to Genoa, in a more appropriate space for size and turnover. Today, Federico and Cristina, supported by a team of collaborators and experts, continue to offer their customers top quality products, and run a consolidated business, with strong local and national roots and growing international ramifications.
The business is divided into two areas: the selection and marketing of bulk products created specifically for important national and international brands, and the selection and marketing of packaged products for the end consumer, under the Santagata and Frantoio Portofino brands. Through the study and analysis of countless varieties of olive oils, every year we create balance and harmony between the taste notes of each individual product – both packaged and bulk – and we maintain their high and unaltered quality over time, thanks to specialised analysis, technical expertise and professional tastings. The entire Santagata management is a professional taster ONAOO (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Olio d’Oliva).
Technical expertise is also backed up by in-depth knowledge of the market: the agricultural world of production (different production years, harvests influenced by meteorological and systemic factors); customer needs (taste, quality and service); the economic system of oil (financial dynamics, market fluctuations). In 2012, the company was entered in the register of Historical Companies.
Today, we distribute our products in more than 40 countries around the world. We continue to be among the most discerning connoisseurs of oil, historically capable of satisfying our customers’ taste but deeply committed to the cultural growth of our customers, helping them to understand the complexity of the product and accustoming them to high quality, just as our ancestors taught us.