Two families, three generations, a few giornata piemontese of hazelnut groves and a town.

Ours is a story of dedication to hazelnuts that began after the war in Cravanzana, a small town located in the hills of the Alta Langa, with what was available: a few handfuls of land, few means and even less money. But an immense desire for redemption, pride carved into the soul and the foresight to focus on the excellence that the earth grants here, and only here, to those who cultivate it with love and effort. A lot, and a whole lot more effort. But just as much satisfaction.

Nonno Domenico, strength
and experimentation

Ours is the story of grandpaDomenico and his wife Pinuccia, the maternal part of the Fontana family, who have dedicated their whole life to understanding, cultivating and enhancing the most precious asset that the Alta Langa had granted them: the Tonda Gentile Hazelnut of the Langhe, which reaches the pinnacle of quality and gives fruits of incomparable fragrance on the hills of Cravanzana. From Domenico and Giuseppina, we inherited the curiosity towards the art of hazelnut growing, the meticulousness in manual work and the dream of improving one's condition by doing what one really loves. To Domenico, who was among the first growers to bring mechanization to the hazelnut groves of the Alta Langa and to believe in a rational use of technology, we mainly owe our infinite curiosity towards the world of hazelnut growing and the propensity for innovation, which brings us to never stand still and to continuously improve our knowledge and our cultivation techniques.

Nonno Ercole,
working gently

Ours is also the story of grandpaErcole and grandmaCesarina, the paternal part of the family, also originally from Cravanzana and they too have always been hazelnut growers. Ercole and Cesarina have always believed in the value of the family, passing on the simplicity, humility and collaboration that still characterize our way of working today. We are indebted to them for an infinite sweetness towards what we are and what we do: the smile we reserve for each other while we work among the hazelnuts and what, at the end of the day, we do not spare even after long hours of work.

It is by collecting and passing on the passion and strength of those who preceded us that, in 2017, we started Nocciola Amore Mio. Mattia, third generation of the Fontana family, has united the plots of the respective families and founded a new hazelnut-growing company, involving his grandfather Domenico, his father Enzo, his mother Silvia and also his sister Arianna. Today, all together, we cultivate 11 hectares of hazelnuts divided into small plots in Cravanzana: all registered with the Piedmont Hazelnut PGI specification, to which the renowned «Tonda Gentile delle Langhe» cultivar belongs; all in the hills and all worked mainly by hand.