Welcome to the world of donna franca.
ABOUT US
DONNA FRANCA unites deep-rooted tradition with modern, sustainable craftsmanship - born from ancestral knowledge and reimagined for a new generation of food lovers, home cooks, chefs, and culture carriers.
United by a shared commitment to transparency and quality, the creation of DONNA FRANCA is the result of a partnership between chef Thomas Straker and the Allegretti family.
Straker’s experience across many professional kitchens highlighted a consistent gap: the absence of high-grade, accessibly priced olive oil that delivers both bold flavour and nutritional integrity. Drawn to the Allegretti estate’s nutrient-rich soil - which is shaped by generations of natural cultivation and deep-rooted stewardship - he found alignment in both philosophy and ambition.
DONNA FRANCA is grown, harvested, and pressed exclusively on the Allegretti property - a certified carbon-neutral, single-estate operation that ensures full traceability from tree to bottle.
The estate itself helped pioneer the need for change, being one of the first in Italy to adopt the innovative ‘Protoreactor’ - a technology that enables a more energy-efficient and sustainable extraction process while preserving the olive oil’s natural integrity and flavour. The result is an oil rich in both flavour and nutrients - with approximately ~30% more polyphenols than those produced through traditional methods.
OUR ETHOS
DONNA FRANCA is built on the belief that great olive oil begins long before the first drop is pressed. It begins in the soil - nurtured through decades of regenerative farming, stewarded with care, and harvested in harmony to nature’s rhythms.
Rooted in a single-estate philosophy, every olive is grown, hand-harvested, cold-pressed, and blended on the Allegretti family’s carbon-neutral estate in the Itria Valley of Puglia. Nothing outsourced. Nothing compromised.
DONNA FRANCA was launched to challenge the diluted standards of the mass market, where quality is often compromised by blending, over-processing, and poor ingredient sourcing.
Every DONNA FRANCA bottle offers full traceability from soil to shelf, crafted using Pieralisi cold-pressing technology and refined by olive oil sommeliers to create unique seasonal blends.
At the heart of the estate is the legacy of Francesca Allegretti, the family matriarch and first to plant the olive trees that continue to shape each year’s harvest. Her enduring commitment to land, craft, and community is present in every drop - a quiet force behind the oil’s distinctive depth of flavour and exceptional nutritional richness.
In an age of speed and excess, DONNA FRANCA invites a return to what matters: time, care, and connection. From the slow, deliberate methods used to cultivate and craft the oil, to the way it’s meant to be savoured - drizzled, dipped, and shared around a table - this is a celebration of slowing down.
Inspired by the Italian ethos of intentional living, DONNA FRANCA encourages moments of pause, where food is not rushed but revered, and quality is chosen over convenience. Because sometimes, slower is simply better.
DONNA FRANCA is more than olive oil. It is the expression of a place, a process, and a philosophy where tradition and innovation coexist - shaped by intention, elevated by precision, and sustained through time.
Welcome to the world of DONNA FRANCA.