Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
IT cost well over 20 million and will hopefully create something of a ‘Guggenheim Effect’ for Ronda.
That is Philippe Starck’s amazing new organic olive mill recently finished near the town.
A towering six-storey 40-metre giant made of concrete and steel it peers out over the beautiful Serrania like a beacon.
Built over four years, La Almazara – shaped in the head of a Picasso-style bull – is the largest and easily the most original in Europe.
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Created by legendary designer Starck, it’s a fully functioning mill, as well as museum and restaurant, that currently makes extra virgin organic olive oil out of thousands of trees on its surrounding 26 hectare estate.
The brainchild of the French creator – known for designing a string of hotels, yachts and chairs – it came about after he met a local landowner in New York many decades ago.
The aristocrat, Pedro ‘Perico’ Gomez de Baeza, was already behind the high quality local La Organic olive brand, alongside businessman Santiago Muguiro, now CEO of the entire project.
Having already been behind the amazing Frank Gehry-designed hotel at the bodega Marques de Riscal, in Rioja, they thought they might do the same in Ronda.
First came a cool olive can designed by Starck in 2000, who is an investor, and already lives between Sintra in Portugal and Formentera in the Balearics, plus ‘many other homes’.
Then came the project for the hillside, between Ronda and Arriate, which also has a five-room rental villa and conference facilities.
While it took years for the sleepy town hall to award a licence, it finally started to go up in 2020 and is now finally open for visitors for €25 a head, including an olive oil tasting with bread.
The visit takes punters on a fabulous windy tour of the 9,500-tree estate and its fruit orchards, organic vegetable garden and vineyard.
They will also enjoy the fascinating museum, which celebrates the introduction of olive oil into the Andalucia region in the days of the Phoenicians.
As well as being able to watch the olives actually being introduced into the machinery below, tourists learn about other important local Ronda characters, including Pedro Romero and Abbas Ibn Firnas, who is considered one of the inventors of flying.
A fully-fledged restaurant, with chairs and tables all designed by Starck, is set to open imminently.
