About us
FAVELLA IS A HISTORIC FARM WITH A LONG TRADITION, IMMERSED IN ONE OF THE MOST SUGGESTIVE PLACES IN ITALY, THE PLAIN OF SIBARI IN CALABRIA.
According to research and excavations conducted between 1990 and 2002 by Professor Vincenzo Tinè, the first signs of human presence on our lands date back to the 6th millennium BC (8,000 years ago). It may seem incredible, but the history of agriculture starts here, in the Plain of Sibari and exactly on our lands. When man stopped being only a hunter and fisherman, no longer limiting himself to the simple gathering of wild fruits, but beginning to cultivate, he started right here, at least in Europe. According to the research, it seems that the first European agricultural settlement, the only one for which scientific traces have been found, was right here, in Corigliano Calabro, on the lands of our company.
Our story, however, begins in the 1930s when the grandfather of Nicola Rizzo, the current owner, bought a small plot of land together with his brothers, which was then part of a larger estate owned by an ancient noble family. We were born as a pastoral farm producing wheat, a highly valuable commodity at that time. Extensive livestock farming, consisting of Podolica cattle, a native breed of southern Italy, and flocks of sheep had the function of fertilizing the land for wheat production.
From the 30s to the 70s
Our story, however, begins in the 1930s when the grandfather of Nicola Rizzo, the current owner, bought a small plot of land with his brothers, at the time part of a larger estate owned by an ancient noble family. We were born as a pastoral farm that produced wheat, a commodity of the highest value in those years. The extensive livestock farming, made up of Podolica cattle, a native breed of southern Italy, and flocks of sheep had the function of fertilizing the land for the production of wheat.
From the 70s to the 2000s
The first big change was to transform a pastoral farm into a modern breeding farm , buying Frisian cows in Canada. We then began to plant citrus groves, giving an entrepreneurial twist to the company through intensive and natural cultivation . Surrounded by the most typical Mediterranean landscape and a stone's throw from the Ionian Gulf, we continued to enhance the precious fruits that this land gives us , seeking a cutting-edge production model and already in 1970 being awarded the gold medal of the Ministry of Agriculture for the superiority of cattle breeding.
From the 2000s to today
Always under the guidance of the Rizzo family, we have grown over the years to reach our current size . Ours is a company with a 5 million agricultural turnover and another 5 million energy turnover. We have a total of 420 hectares (of which 5 cultivated with vegetables, greens, aromatic herbs and spices; 45 rice paddies; 55 citrus fruits; 16 olive groves; 250 forage for livestock). We have 30 thousand goji plants , 700 thousand liters of milk processed per year, 80 thousand kg of cardoncelli mushrooms produced, 1.5 million kg of citrus fruits and 40 thousand kg of paddy rice. We have a breeding farm of 700 buffaloes and 240 hectares for forage, vegetable gardens, rice paddies, citrus groves and olive groves with which we produce exquisite dairy delicacies and surprising delicacies in oil.
Our products are distributed in selected stores in Italy and around the world, but also and above all online on our website.
