About Us
The story of our olive oil mill is one of regeneration. The mill is situated in the small settlement of Baredine in Istria, and was a working mill up to 1943, after which it lay idle for half a century. Then, after fifty years, it occurred to us that we could revive our family’s traditional business in our area, albeit in a completely modern way.
So, out of love for the olives and olive oil, our family professionally and responsibly set up the foundations of a new, modern Istrian olive-growing and milling operation.
In the old mill, the big grinding stone was turned by a horse. Long-standing traditions about olive oil production were the norm when we started. The Agro-Millo Olive Mill set new standards and revolutionized production by including new technologies for olive processing, new principles for harvesting, same-day milling, and storage in special stainless steel barrels until our high-quality extra virgin olive oil is bottled. Over the years we have increased the capacity of the mill and greatly extended our olive groves.The mill is certified for the production of organic olive oil.
Initially the local olive growers were sceptical of the innovations, but soon they were all bringing their olives to us for processing. This despite long distances, despite the narrow, steep road which climbs to 220 metres above sea level, despite the long traffic queues which resulted at the time. The olive growers would wait patiently for hours until it was their turn for milling. Many of them were rewarded with gold medals from competitions in New York, Tokyo, Paris and Rome, and some now have their own modern, magnificent oil mills. To this day they talk about Valter Smilović, the prime mover in the family project, with gratitude and respect, because they learned so much from him.
The Agro-Millo mill was the first to do cold pressing without adding water. This technology ensured that the olive oil would be high quality and rich in nutrients. Our aim has always been to produce the highest quality extra virgin olive oil. It is thanks to these production and processing principles, considered daring at the time, that Istria has become the leading region for truly high-quality extra virgin olive oils.
