Dopies
WHY YOU’ LL LOVE IT
Uprooting the history of Zakynthos’ ancient olive trees
Dopies

A remarkable testament to the passage of time and the majesty of nature, some more than 2,000 years old, with single or often multiple trunks that become entwined, creating rare natural “sculptures”, dopies (lit. “locals”), as Zakynthians call the ancient olive trees, grow all over the island. Around the mountain villages of Lagadakia and Exohora, on the plain and elsewhere, in stray, age-old groves, in smaller clusters, even alone, in the yard of a house or in the middle of a field.

Nowadays, the main variety is koroneiki, from which Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Zakynthos olive oil is produced, and which was brought to the island centuries ago, gradually gaining ground from the self-seeding local tree because it was considered more productive, though without managing to supplant it entirely. Olive oil production today remains one of the most important and profitable agricultural activities on the island, along with wine and currants.