Aristeon — the olive mill in Lithakia, Zakynthos
Aristeon is a family olive mill in the village of Lithakia, in the south of Zakynthos, close to Laganas. Olives have been brought here for pressing since 1850: more than 175 years and several generations of one family. Today Aristeon is both a working mill and a museum of the olive and olive oil, open to anyone visiting the island.
From stone press to centrifuge
The story of Aristeon is also the story of olive milling on Zakynthos:
- 1850 — the mill starts with a stone press turned by animals. Part of it survives to this day.
- The following decades — metal presses arrive, followed by hydraulic ones.
- 2008 — the family builds a new, ecological mill with a two-phase centrifugal separator, where the oil is extracted cold.
The old machines were never thrown away. They stand in the mill's yard and have become a museum.
The olive and olive oil museum
The open-air exhibition brings together everything that turned Zakynthos olives into oil over the centuries. The oldest exhibit is an 18th-century wooden press. The tour follows the whole journey of the olive, from the old presses to the modern line where today's oil is made.
- Free guided tour explaining how olive oil is made
- Olive oil tasting with homemade bread and local olives
- An olive grove with centuries-old trees, including an olive tree around 1,500 years old
- Open all year round
If you are on Zakynthos, stop by. There is no better way to see where the oil we sell comes from. Current opening hours and contacts: aristeon.gr.
How Aristeon olive oil is made
- Zakynthos olives only — from the fields around Lithakia and the hills above. The oil carries the protected geographical indication PGI Zakynthos.
- Local varieties — Koroneiki and Dopia. Dopia grows only on the island.
- Cold extraction — by mechanical means only, at temperatures up to 27 °C.
- About 5 kg of olives for one litre of oil.
- Unfiltered — the oil is bottled straight from the tank where it settles naturally, so the taste changes from harvest to harvest.
- Flavoured oils — garlic, lemon, orange and chilli are crushed together with the olives, not added as flavouring afterwards.
- Certification — food safety to ISO 22000 (TÜV Hellas). The organic oil is certified by the Greek inspection body DIO.
Straight from the mill
We import the oil directly from Aristeon, with no middlemen, and publish the full independent laboratory analyses of every harvest.