Our Radici

Our story began in 2007 when, thanks to Emil, who had started his Italian football career in Serie A, we both moved to Reggio Calabria in the deep south of Italy. Although we are originally from Iceland, it was in Italy where we fell in love with each other, with our lives and with this beautiful country that we now call home.

Over the years football has taken us from Reggio Calabria to Udine, passing through Verona, where we were welcomed by the locals in a really authentic way.

Here in Verona we decided to immerse ourselves wholeheartedly in Italian culture by learning the language, integrating into the local lifestyle, raising our two children according to these values.

Every time Emil changed football teams our whole family had the chance to travel far and wide around Italy and with each new region, village or house we visited, our appreciation for this magnificent country grew steadily. We have spent our lives here, enjoying every moment to the fullest.

We fell in love with the people, the culture, the beauty of nature and, of course, Italian cuisine.

Through this journey we have understood that Italian food is a perfect reflection of the values that we have always brought to our table. Yet, looking at Italian shops or grocery abroad, we realized that this authentic Italian cuisine was often misrepresented.

While Emil was often traveling for trips, retreats, matches and training, in 2018 the idea of creating the Olifa brand emerged, to inspire people to experience the most honest Italian cuisine, made of quality, genuineness and simplicity.

Today, in addition to having olive groves in the hills of Verona which yield its own selections of EVO oil, Olifa offers a collection of high-quality Italian foods, which have enjoyed huge success in Iceland and that we want to take everywhere.

With love – from our family to yours,

Ása Regins & Emil Hallfreðsson

Founders of OLIFA