At Bella Italia we sell only cold pressed extravirgin olive oil (EVOO). Should you care? Once you taste our oils we think you will. You see, extravirgin is a grade of olive oil. It is derived from the first pressing of the olives, which results in the highest quality olive oil. In addition, olive oil must conform to certain standards of acid content in order to be labeled "extravirgin."

Cold pressing is an integral part of processing extravirgin olive oil. Cold pressing is a process of crushing the olives without heat, in many cases using old style millstones. The process is more costly than competing processes and extracts a smaller quantity of oil from the olives, but results in higher quality oil. Alternative methods may be more economical and generally yield more oil, but the heat and crushing methods can result in damaged oil.

We offer extravirgin olive oils from a variety of regions in Italy. We invite you to choose an oil from our selection below. Compare the differences and we are confident that you will find an oil that is just right for you.

[For Washington, D.C.-area shoppers, be sure to visit Bella Italia and have one of our knowledgable staff members guide you through a comparative taste testing. We offer samples of all of our oils every day. The best way to find the right oil for you is to try them, as the Washington Post reported in its recent Food Section article, Buying Olive Oil -- Read this First. Bella Italia featured prominently as one of the area's best locations for sampling extravirgin olive oil.]