It’s estimated there are up to 60 million olive trees growing in Puglia. That’s right – 60 million. It’s a number that’s hard to imagine, even as you watch from the window of the car or train as kilometre after kilometre of olive groves pass by.

For us, though, what’s even more incredible is the size of the trees. Here in Puglia many of the olive trees are hundreds of years old (ulivi secolari) and some have existed for more than a thousand years (ulivi millenari). The ulivi millenari have a circumference of more than 10 metres and are at least 1.3 metres high. It seems extraordinary, but there are many of these giants still growing and producing olives.

Of course most of these ancient trees are on private land and to get a closer look requires permission; we were lucky to find a great young woman right here in Monopoli who could arrange that. We spent a wonderful morning with Antonella, wandering among these awesome giants – ‘nature’s sculptures’ she calls them – with the sun at our backs and wildflowers underfoot. It’s a morning we’ll long remember.