Roots.

ANTONIO.

Ardissone`s family is nativ to Diano San Pietro for many generations.

The owner`s grandfather, Antonio Ardissone, was very clever in craftsmanship and built machinery for the mills called "gumbi" with great skill. 

Even today they can be seen in some ancient structures which keep instrumentation of the past.

MARIO.

His son, Mario Ardissone, dedicated his life to campaign, working for years as miller. Great expert on plants and perfect knowledge of territory, he succeeded, only by his ability to guide, to define the cadastral maps and their ownership of land. 

PIETRO.

With his brother Pietro worked for years in a beautiful mill in a place called "Trinità", now a private house of the family, which still preserve the millstones and the old structure. 

Once the work in the mill was very heavy. During the period from October to May, men went to the countryside, between the narrow bands to pick olives, all by hand. 

With so-called "Trappe", long and light sticks of cedar wood, they beat the trees. 

OLIVE'S WOMEN.

Women called "sasselline" came from northern Italy and contribute to this heavy work that went on squatting on the ground and putting the olives in the "cavagnu", a basket. Then the millers filled their bags of 60 kg. and loaded them on their shoulders to the means of transport to take them to the mill.

BIG PHYSICAL STRENGTH.

The movement of the bags were made all through the great force of men working even 12 hours, stopping to eat only.

OLIVES MEASUREMENT.

The olives were measured by the so-called "quarte", a unit of measure that corresponds to approximately 12 kg of olives.

"WATER" OR "BLOODED" MILLS.

Then they were put down in large mills that could be operated "with water", if located near a river, or "blooded", by the force of an animal, usually a donkey turning the mill around for hours, playing a heavy daily work. 

THE OLIVE PASTE.

The olive paste composed of crushed stones and olives pulp obtained by grinding the fruits, was placed in the "spurtin" hemp and round containers, and pressed to extract the oil. What left after pressing is called "sansa". 

FROM OLIVES TO BASIL.

More than 30 years ago Mario decided to start a new business and built the first greenhouse to grow Basil.

In this period Basil production moved by the Genoese zone also in western Liguria, to satisfy the great demand. 

"PESTO" IN THE WORLD.

Food industries began to be interested in this sauce, increasingly known in the world to become the second most used condiment after tomato sauce.

ROMEO AND HIS FAMILY.

Now the company, which became "Ca' Messighi SRL", is handled with passion by Antonio`s nephew, Mario`s son: Romeo Ardissone with his wife Guja and the with the valuable contribution of the older son Federico 16 years old, the youngest, Riccardo 10 years old: for now is getting to know the labels...