Filippo (Fil) Bucchino
Extra virgin olive oil expert, producer, professional taster, international judge, educator, and storyteller.
Florence-born and Toronto-based, Fil Bucchino has spent nearly two decades working across the full world of extra virgin olive oil, from the grove and the mill to certified tasting panels, international competitions, education, film, and the table.
His work is dedicated to understanding what makes extraordinary olive oil possible, helping people recognize it for themselves, and protecting the people, places, and conditions required to produce it.
Speaking, Judging, and Collaboration
Fil works with universities, culinary institutions, olive oil competitions, producers, chefs, cultural organizations, media companies, and private groups around the world.
His work includes keynote presentations, guided tastings, master classes, international competition judging, sensory education, film and television, and selected culinary and institutional collaborations.
Each engagement is shaped around the audience, but the purpose remains the same: to make extra virgin olive oil easier to understand, more compelling to experience, and impossible to see in the same way again.
Selected Work and Recognition
Fil’s work has taken him from olive groves and mills to universities, international competitions, film sets, and broadcast television.
The World of Olive Oil
Co-host of the PBS special exploring the history, culture, production, and evolution of olive oil across Italy.
Obsessed with Olive Oil
Host and co-producer of the award-winning documentary dedicated to the people, places, and craft behind extraordinary extra virgin olive oil.
International Judging
Judge at olive oil competitions across Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Education and Speaking
Master classes, lectures, and tastings with institutions including Yale University, Ferrandi Paris, Chianti Classico Olio DOP, and the Italian Trade Commission.
Recognition
Named AIRO’s Olive Oil Personality of the Year and recipient of the Pentola d’Oro Buonissimo Award.
Abandoned Grove
The fullest expression of Fil’s work.
Fil is the founder of Abandoned Grove, a membership-based company that protects, restores, and sustains olive groves while producing exceptional extra virgin olive oil within the natural limits of each grove and harvest.
Abandoned Grove grew from a simple conviction: the quality of the oil cannot be separated from the health of the trees, the land, and the people behind it.
Today, more than 5,000 olive trees across the hills above Florence have been returned to care or protected from abandonment.
Start a Conversation
Extra virgin olive oil connects the tree, the grove, the season, the people who make it, and the table where it is shared.
Fil’s work is dedicated to making those connections visible through education, tasting, judging, storytelling, and collaboration.
For speaking engagements, competition judging, media, master classes, and selected collaborations: