I’ve heard that story from Dado Belci, the son of Lorenzo, few years ago, and I am pleased to repeat it… it is linked to a “more recent pillar” of their family story... It was a woman…

Olive Oil produced by Belci brothers Livio and Lorenzo is named after the father's mother Marussa called Melota… and today name of the family olive oil is a tribute to her perseverance… "Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus"... "Yesterday's rose endures in its name, we hold empty names"…

There is an old say that family Belci lives and is the story of a funny comparison between the olive tree and the vineyard.

Mr. Livio Belci likes to compare the olive tree to the mother and vineyard to a woman…

If you are away from home for years and you return to your mother she will always accept you… the same as an olive tree… it will give you fruits after long time you’ve been away… while if you return to a vineyard after some years it is very likely that you will never be able to make a wine from that vineyard… :)

The story of Belci family follows the history of “Bumbari”. Bumbari are traditionally named people from Vodnjan.

Written notes of Belci family dates back to the mid-16th century as indicated in Parish records kept in St. Blaise Church. I am pleased to recall that the second town statute of Vodnjan was approved in 1492 – the year when America was discovered… and written records of Belci’s family can almost be traced till that period…

Their passion and love for land have produced renowned extra virgin olive oil MELOTO. Olive oil is part of Belci family heritage and in every word of Livio I felt it that night…

I felt the passion for the land of his ancestors in each of his words…

Some of over 3,000 trees spread on 10 hectares of olive groves are over 400 years old…

In the recent history grandfather Matteo restarted producing oil for the needs of the family and local sale using the local hydraulic press. It was 1940’s.

Over the last decades his sons Lorenzo and Livio are among the major contributors of the southern Istria Olive Oil Renaissance.

Livio and Lorenze were the voice repeating that traditional varieties of Olive Trees have proved their value over millenniums, and they trusted the tradition and its quality. In Vodnjan area the ancestors were used to make olive oil from: busa, ancient autochthonous variety, istarska bjelica, rosulja and, above all, the rediscovered zizzolera. These are also the olive trees cultivated by family Belci.

It is hard to describe the taste of each of them… you have to feel it and experience it on your own and Livio, Lorenzo, Matteo or Dado Belci will guide you through MELOTO taste but here in end I am pleased to share one more thing with you… and it is the fact that the older have taught Livio and Lorenzo how to reproduce old olive trees thus many children of their old olive trees have been planted in their fields thus a future have a little guarantee…

I am pleased to invite you to visit MELOTO website to learn more about World Awards and to find them on the map… you will learn that MELOT is listed for years in “Extravergine Guide to the Best Certified Quality Olive Oil in the World”…

You will also learn that in 2007, Belci family opened “The Sampling Temple” of their olive oil…