Colavita S.p.A is an Italian company best known for its olive oil.
As of 2010, the brothers Enrico and Leonardo Colavita run the company, with Enrico serving as President and Leonardo as General Manager, and other members of the family serving in other management roles, including Leonardo's son Giovanni, who was President of Colavita USA. Their father started the packaging business in the 1930s;[1] their family, and many other families in the town of Sant'Elia a Pianisi and the wider Province of Campobasso, had grown and pressed olive oil for generations.[2] The company owns a packaging plant in Pomezia, which also packages olive oil under the brands Rachael Ray All-Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Santa Sabina.[2]
Colavita USA was founded by John J. Profaci exclusively who, at the time, was a resident of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Profaci was introduced to Enrico Colavita in 1978 after Colavita came to the United States. Profaci, who had been in the olive oil business, agreed to go into business with Colavita as the US distributor for the company and subsequently created the extra virgin olive oil category in the United States.[3]