After Napoleon’s fall and the Bourbon Restoration in France, a colony of high-ranking French officials, who supported Napoleon, emigrated to America in fear of their lives. In the new continent, they founded the Colony of the Vine andthe Olive Tree.
In 1817, the Congress of the United States, decided to welcome these settlers, granting them about 0 m2 in the desert of Alabama, on the condition that they would cultivate grapes and olive trees, in addition to a contribution of $ 2 per acre. This was agreed to due to the belief in the rest of the world that placing these settlers there was really a military strategy to expand and re-empower Napoleon, thus avoiding any risk of invasion.
Of these territorial assignments, Marengo County arose in honor of the Battle of Marengo, which took place near Turin. Here Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Austrians on June 14, 1800.
To reach the granted lands, they first arrived in Philadelphia in the beginning of 1817, where they planted and cultivated olive groves in this well-known city of the State of Pennsylvania for the first time. Among other things, Philadelphia is also known as being the city of origin of the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion.
Olive trees and grapes continue to be present in those states, and the wine and EVOO produced from them is highly valued.