Ancient olive growing : the olive tree, its history, oil, from the treading to the beam press, proverbial sayings

A Mediterranean tree if ever there was one, the olive tree has long marked the landscapes of Provence. Through the history of its development, its apogee and its decline, Marie-Claire Amouretti and Georges Comet offer us a multifaceted look at this tree that is deeply rooted in Provençal culture, covering both the locations and methods of exploitation through the ages, and the implications for rural life of the spread and decline of the olive tree, without neglecting the aesthetic – and culinary! – of the tree most often sung by Mediterranean poets.