Fabbrica Olive Museum

Located in Syvros, Lefkada, the Fabbrica Olive Museum is housed in a 19th-century olive oil factory, offering insights into traditional production methods and local culture.

Planning your visit

The Fabbrica museum occupies a nineteenth-century olive oil factory in Syvros, a mountain village on Lefkada, and the machinery is still in place — the millstones, the presses, the separation tanks and the engine that drove them, left as they were when production ceased.

The Ionian islands were dense with such small factories, and the technique they represent is worth understanding: olives crushed whole under stone, the paste spread on fibre mats stacked and pressed, the oil separated from vegetation water by settling rather than centrifuge. The result was different from modern oil, and the labour involved was considerable.

The museum also covers the social organisation around it — the cooperative arrangements, the seasonal rhythm of harvest, and the village economy that depended on the crop.

Lefkada is connected to the mainland by a causeway, which makes it the most accessible Ionian island, and its interior villages are considerably less visited than the west coast beaches. Admission is generally free or nominal. Allow forty-five minutes. Bookable options include ticket with guided tour. Current availability is listed below.