OLIVELLA

OLIVELLA is an Italian skincare and soap brand built entirely around virgin olive oil. It is produced by Umbria Olii International S.p.A, a family-run olive-oil company from the Umbria region of central Italy [2]. The line grew out of that family's olive-oil business rather than starting as a standalone cosmetics venture, and every formula centres on what the company calls "ultra-purified virgin olive oil."

The date the skincare line itself launched is not documented. The parent olive-oil business traces its origins to 1945 [9], but that year marks the start of the family's food-industry olive-oil trade, not the debut of the Olivella cosmetics range, and no available source gives a founding year for the skincare brand specifically. The brand remains active, selling directly online and through distributors in many countries.

By one editorial account, the soap line began as a circular-economy project: a family member named Giorgiomaria worked on reducing water waste from the virgin-olive-oil refining process, and after years of research the family patented the industrial process and produced their first 100% virgin olive oil bar soap [9]. That bar soap remains the brand's original product. The company frames the whole enterprise as an extension of three generations of olive-oil expertise [2]. No source names an individual as the formal founder of the Olivella brand.

Olivella is owned and manufactured by Umbria Olii International S.p.A, the Del Papa family's olive-oil company [2]. The parent says it has built its reputation over more than 70 years and that its brands are distributed in more than 30 countries [7]. Products are made in Umbria, which the company describes as the "Green Heart of Italy."

The brand's central idea is captured in its trademarked phrase "The Mediterranean Diet for Your Skin" — the belief, as the company puts it, that "what's good for your body is also good for your skin." Drawing an analogy to the Mediterranean diet's association with longevity, Olivella says its products aim to feed the skin essential fatty acids, vitamins A and E, and polyphenols. Its stated mission is to be "the one and only 100% olive concept available for everyone," and it describes its ingredient standard in three words: safe, clean and sustainable.

The company treats olive oil not as one ingredient among many but as the base of every formula, and contrasts its soaps with mass-market "olive oil soaps" that, it argues, are actually made from palm or animal-fat derivatives [9]. Its own bars, the brand says, use pure Sodium Olivate — saponified virgin olive oil — rather than palm-oil blends. To frame this food-inspired approach, Olivella has coined the term "Gourmet Skincare," which it presents as a category built on quality fats, simplicity and long-term skin health rather than quick cosmetic fixes.

Olivella works across skin care, hair care and body care. Alongside the original bar soap, the range includes liquid soaps, shower gels, body oils, and face products such as the Olive Cleansing Oil, the Counter Clock hyaluronic acid serum, and a lifting product called Olitox Lift. The formulas are built on ultra-purified virgin olive oil, which the company says is produced through a patented purification process that removes the odour and colour of culinary oil while retaining its antioxidants [1]. Olivella describes this cosmetic-grade oil as closely mimicking the skin's natural lipids, so that it can nourish without clogging pores.

The brand highlights several olive-derived compounds. It points to the phenolic content of olive oil, which it says carries antioxidant properties higher than those of vitamin E, and to triterpenes, which the company says can support cell migration and collagen deposition and shorten wound-healing time. More recently it has promoted hydroxytyrosol, described as a rare olive antioxidant that it claims outperforms vitamin C in neutralising free radicals. The parent company states that Olivella holds patents on the manufacturing process of its olive oil soap flakes [7]. Products are described as vegan, cruelty-free and dermatologically tested in accredited third-party laboratories.

Sustainability is central to how Olivella presents itself. The company says it recycles water drawn from its olive-oil refining process back into its products, reducing reliance on external resources. It states that its ingredients are 99.9% naturally derived and biodegradable, that packaging uses recycled and recyclable materials, and that its cruelty-free status has been evaluated by PETA [3]. The brand has set a target of cutting packaging plastic by 95% by 2030 [9], and says it has invested in planting 500,000 olive trees in Umbria through an affiliated company, Terre Del Papa [8]. It also reports holding ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 certifications.

Independent coverage of the brand is limited. The trade publication Cosmetics Business profiled Olivella's circular-economy positioning and its olive-tree planting initiative [8], and an independent editorial journal, The World From A Window, featured its olive-oil soap heritage and founder philosophy [9]. No industry awards are documented.

Olivella is an active brand. It runs a direct-to-consumer online store, publishes current blog content, and has introduced newer formulas such as its hydroxytyrosol range. It is sold through a network of distributors spanning Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.