For three generations our family has been growing hazelnuts in Cravanzana, a small town in the Alta Langa located on the hills of the Upper Belbo Valley.
An area of forests as far as the eye can see, hazelnut groves, wheat fields, terraced hills with dry stone walls and tough humanity, where it is possible to read a story of dedication to the earth in every wrinkle of the face and furrow of the hands. Places dear to writer BeppeFenoglio, who has spent most of his childhood on these ridges collecting testimonies of real life, beauty and extraordinary fatigue.
Queen of Cravanzana is her majesty the Hazelnut, gold of the Alta Langa, whose neat hazel groves plow the hills like rows, trimmed gardens that grow under a scorching and generous sun, whose rays are just mitigated by the breeze coming from the Ligurian Apennines.
There are about 11 hectares of hazelnuts that we cultivate in Cravanzana, the Piedmontese municipality with the largest area planted with hazelnut groves in the region, whose vocation to hazelnut growing dates back to the early 1900s and has specialized in the immediate post-war period.
The main plots of the company are located in three distinct locations, just outside the town, in the direction of Feisoglio: Ravezzo, Cappelletti and Baratta. These are areas incredibly suited to hazelnut, located on the hills, at a height of between 550 and 600 meters, the best for quality growing.
The perfect altitude, the right exposure to the sun and the soils – which have a particular calcareous-clayey mix with minimal presence of sandstone – contribute to the growth of vigorous and green plants, which give fragrant, healthy fruits with very high yields.