Frantoio Olive Tree

The Tuscan benchmark for cold-pressed oil — a peppery, fruity Frantoio that turns a sunny corner into a working olive grove of your own.

The Frantoio Olive (Olea europaea ‘Frantoio’) is the cultivar at the heart of classic Tuscan extra-virgin oil. Prized for centuries across central Italy, its small black fruit pressed for an oil that is green, aromatic, and famously peppery, with a grassy, slightly bitter finish that olive-oil lovers chase. The tree itself is graceful and silvery, with the willowy leaves and gnarled character that make olives a living piece of Mediterranean landscape. Grow it for the oil, for table curing, or simply as a striking evergreen specimen.

Why growers choose the Frantoio

• World-class oil. Frantoio is the signature pressing olive of Tuscany, yielding a high-quality, fruity-peppery extra-virgin oil with excellent flavor and good shelf stability.
• Self-fertile. A single tree will set fruit on its own, so you don’t need a second variety to get a crop — though a nearby pollinizer can improve yields.
• Heavy, reliable bearer. Mature trees are productive and consistent, rewarding you with abundant fruit each fall.
• Handsome evergreen. Silver-green foliage and a sculptural branching habit give year-round structure and a Mediterranean look to patios, courtyards, and borders.
• Drought-tolerant once established. Like most olives, Frantoio is built for hot, dry summers and lean soils, asking little once its roots take hold.

In zones 8 through 11 it makes a long-lived, 25-to-30-foot landscape tree or a productive grove anchor. In colder regions, grow it in a large container so you can shelter it from hard freezes and still enjoy the foliage, fruit, and that unmistakable peppery oil.