From 14 to 23 April 2022, two members of the French team, Sylvie Couralet and Julie Deramond, went to Greece to finalise the organisation of the first colloquium planned in the framework of the programme, in Kalamata, from 29 to 31 May 2022.

The stay started with two working sessions with Marinella Katsilieri and several speakers of the conference at the Routes of the Olive Tree. Several meetings were then organised in Kalamata, in order to better know the context of the valorisation of the olive tree heritage in Messinia, and to be able to compare the data between the countries of the programme later on.

Thanks to our colleagues of the Routes of the Olive Tree, we had the chance to meet Panagiotis Katsaris, general director of agricultural research at the Olive Institute, in Kalamata. This passionate researcher presented his laboratory dedicated to olive oil, viticulture and tropical plants. Within the laboratory, the gardens are home to a thousand-year-old olive tree with a diameter of 9 metres, which has seen many generations.