About Olive & Ash
A craft documentation resource covering artisan olive wood production in Calabria and Puglia, southern Italy.
What This Resource Documents
Olive & Ash is a factual documentation of craft practice related to olive wood carving and turning in the regions of Calabria and Puglia. The content covers three primary domains: the technical processes used to dry and stabilise olive wood before carving; the lathe turning methods developed and adapted by workshops in the Pollino foothills and across Calabria; and the economic structure of the artisan workshop sector in Puglia, including the impact of the Xylella fastidiosa outbreak that began in 2013.
Content on this site is written in an informational style. It does not advocate for particular products, producers, or buying decisions. Where specific workshops or practitioners are named, they are identified as sources or examples within a documented context, not as endorsements.
Sources and Methodology
Articles on this site draw from three categories of source material:
- Primary accounts: Published first-person accounts from craft practitioners, including documentation from workshops such as La Bottega del Pollino (Calabria), Turlizzi (Puglia), and the Tàccaru collective (Lecce province).
- Technical literature: Woodturning and woodworking reference material covering olive wood-specific properties, including moisture behaviour, density variation, and cutting geometry responses.
- Regional reporting: Published journalism and regional craft association documentation covering the economic effects of Xylella fastidiosa on the Puglian artisan sector.
Where data is estimated or approximate (workshop counts, price ranges, moisture content figures), this is noted explicitly in the relevant article. No figures are presented as definitive without a cited source.
Wood carving by hand. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Editorial Approach
Content on Olive & Ash is written to be accurate and specific. General observations about craft traditions are avoided where they cannot be supported by documented examples. The aim is that each article contains information that would be useful to a practitioner, a researcher, or a buyer seeking to understand the craft rather than a browser seeking general background.
The site does not publish opinion pieces, product reviews, or promotional content. Articles describing techniques represent documented practice — not recommendations. Readers applying any drying, turning, or finishing technique described here should exercise independent judgment and consult directly with experienced practitioners when working with valuable or irreplaceable material.
Updates and Corrections
Content is reviewed and updated when new source material becomes available or when factual errors are identified. The last update date is shown in each article's metadata. If you have a correction, additional documentation, or a query about sourcing, contact the editorial address below.
Contact and Company Details
- Email: info@oliveandash.eu
- Phone: +39 0984 123 456
- Address: Via Nazionale 12, 87100 Cosenza CS, Italy
- VAT / P.IVA: IT02938410784
Last updated: May 2026