Apulia

Apulia bet 60 million olive trees on a single strategy—and won for 2,500 years. Then Xylella fastidiosa arrived in 2013, spreading 20 kilometers annually with no cure. The region that produces 59% of Italy's olive oil is watching its monoculture die at walking speed.

The Spartans founded Taranto in the 8th century BC on Apulia's Ionian coast, recognizing what the land offered: 800 kilometers of coastline, minimal mountains, and soil suited for Mediterranean agriculture. By 500 BC, Taranto housed 300,000 people—one of Magna Graecia's largest cities—exporting grain and oil across the ancient world. The Romans inherited this infrastructure, using Bari and Brindisi as bridges to the East.

But it was the olive tree that defined Apulia's future. The region's flat terrain and long growing season made olive cultivation uniquely efficient. Where other Italian regions diversified—Tuscany into wine, Lombardy into dairy, Emilia-Romagna into wheat—Apulia doubled down. By the 20th century, 64% of the region's agricultural land bore olives: 60 million trees across 370,000 hectares, involving 148,127 farms. The strategy worked. Apulian olive oil generated €1 billion annually, representing 30% of the region's entire agricultural income and nearly 60% of Italy's national olive oil output.

Then came the pathogen. Xylella fastidiosa—a bacterium spread by spittlebugs—was first detected in Salento in October 2013. The disease blocks the xylem vessels that transport water and nutrients, starving trees from within. There is no cure. Infected trees die within two years. The bacterium spread at 20 kilometers per year, advancing northward from the Salento peninsula like a slow-motion wildfire.

By 2025, Xylella had infected 21 million of Apulia's 60 million olive trees—35% of the region's entire stock—covering 8,000 square kilometers (40% of regional territory). Some groves lost 91% of their yield. Trees planted to mark family births for generations died. The bacterium reached Barletta-Andria-Trani province, responsible for half of Apulia's olive oil production. Italy's national olive oil output fell from 500,000 tons pre-crisis to barely 300,000 tons in difficult years.

The monoculture that had been an economic advantage became an existential vulnerability. Genetic diversity in Apulian olive cultivars was minimal—most trees belonged to a handful of varieties optimized for oil production, not disease resistance. When the bacterium found susceptible hosts packed across 370,000 hectares, it exploited the landscape like a plague in a crowded city.

Apulia still produces 202,000 tons of olive oil annually when conditions permit, but the industry teeters. Containment efforts—removing infected trees, controlling insect vectors, planting resistant varieties—have slowed the northward advance but not stopped it. The economic losses between 2016-2018 alone totaled €390 million. Tourism has partially compensated, with visitors drawn to trulli houses and coastal towns, but the cultural identity remains tied to olives. The region watches its defining monoculture thin year by year, knowing the bacterium will eventually reach every grove.

Xylella continues its 20-kilometer annual march. Apulia faces a choice: replant with resistant varieties and abandon 2,500 years of cultivar tradition, or watch the monoculture that built the regional economy disappear entirely. Either way, the bet on olives—profitable for millennia—has proven catastrophically fragile.