And slowly the agitation rises, the restlessness begins again. The realization that two heavy and difficult months lie ahead. Two months of struggle. Every year, in mid-October, this is the state of mind of Marco Bussagli, a longtime worker at Pieve di Campoli. He has been with the company since 1987, on paper retired but in reality still active because he feels good and generally loves what he does. In these decades a bit like all his colleagues he has held several jobs but his passion is agricultural machinery, that complex of gears and precision mechanics that, maintenance after maintenance, he has gotten to know and from which he would never want to detach himself like a child from his favorite toy. Unfortunately, Marco knows full well that at the end of October he will have to leave the Mercatale workshop to go to the oil mill. A responsibility he dislikes. One that he instinctively experiences as a cross.

In reality, handling olives represents a real challenge for the whole company, a considerable logistical and operational effort. Fabio Arfaioli, another longtime worker, also knows this well. "Where there is a bell tower and a parish church," he says, "there is us and our olives. A joke that measures well the extent and fragmented nature of the land on which the olive groves of Pieve di Campoli find their home. The numbers then further confirm this image with 18 thousand plants spread over five municipalities including San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Scandicci, Impruneta, Certaldo and Barberino Tavernelle. As a whole, the entire area encompasses as many as 100 hectares, so the distances to be covered and the transports to be coordinated during the 50 days of work that each year see between 800 and 1,500 quintals of olives harvested are more than significant. Inevitable, too, are the inconveniences and unforeseen events, such as when in December 2009 all the vehicles were stranded under a sudden heavy snow.