Wouldn't we all like to own a little piece of Italy? I sure would.

I dream one day of owning a place where I can spend long lazy summers and holidays with family and friends.

It really is my favorite country. The food, the people, the traditions.

I used to make annual trips to Italy to visit my dear friend Elizabeth, a writer and professor in Rome.

We met our freshman year of life in Chicago, co-workers, roommates, confidantes.

She had the most charming Roman flat and friends. Lunches on her patio, espresso at her 200-year-old farm table, dinner at midnight.

The perfect tour guide to the Eternal City.

Another bonus of traveling to Italy was hopping on the train to visit my pal Laurie's Farm House "Chiarella". Laurie also happened to be an old Chicago friend of both Elizabeth and mine so she was always on the travel itinerary. Laurie is a smart woman who bought a place in Umbria (which she rents FYI) when it was still un-tapped by tourists and before the Euro made things costly . It's a charming old farm-house on 7 acres, with stream, a vineyard and loads of charm. Many long chats over wine and star-gazing under thick wool blankets on her beautiful property.

Amazing times with amazing friends.

My annual visits have sadly gone by the way side.

Motherhood has put a stop to my former Prada shopping sprees, eating at midnight, drinking wine at noon, "single girl" trips to Italy.

I'm not closing that chapter forever, just until my little gal is a little older.

My dreams of owning a little piece of land in Italy have just gotten a little closer. I have just been let in on a secret.

My friend Jessica (and a member of our Cooking Club) introduced me to Tre Olive.

Tre Olive is an olive oil company and they have a deal where you can adopt your own olive tree in Italy and reap the rewards year round when you receive the delicious olive oil from the harvest of your own tree.

**Adopt an Olive Tree and you receive:**

Adoption certificate, certificate/photo holder, welcome letter, brochure.
A photo of YOUR tree, with all its graceful beauty and naturally imperfect glory.
Your tree is tagged with your name for the adoption year.
The Olive Oil from your tree - 3 liters (6 x 500ml tins) delivered in the Spring. Olives from your tree will be pressed, along with olives from neighboring trees (it's a family affair). Because some trees produce more oil and some produce less, we share the wealth
Cost: $110 for a 1 year adoption + shipping and handling

The method in which the Tre Olive family makes this delicious olive oil has been passed down through the generations and the care, quality, and love shows in their product.

I quickly used up my can of olive oil and am anxiously awaiting the next. You can also purchase single containers of oil olive in different varieties such as their Early Harvest or Signature Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oils.

They also have hand made extra virgin olive oil soaps.

This is a perfect gift for Foodie Friends and those folks who stump you after year about what to get them. I think it would be a great wedding gift to adopt a tree in the name of the new couple. Also, you can hand out the oil out as hostess gifts.

Whatever the case....it's yummy, organic, and all yours.

And the best part? To know that I have some roots in Italy,

until I can plant roots of my own!

xoxo Carrie

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