The best Italian organic olive oil soap (thus far)

One of Nudo’s first forays into non-olive oil production was with soap. We had been given some slightly out of date, lower grade olive oil which we thought could have a lovely second life in our bathroom. Little did we know what pleasures await the better the quality of the olive oil in your soap.

For nearly a millennium, Mediterranean countries have been making soap using olive oil – the first soaps being traced back to 11th century crusaders. I suspect our first efforts, which seemed to involve an inappropriate quantity of scary chemicals boiling at dangerously high temperatures, weren’t a patch on theirs.

We soon turned to the professionals and have since uncovered a wonderful and buoyant underworld of artisanal soap makers, strewn across the Mediterranean countries. We’ve sampled and lathered up with hundreds of different ones and are delighted to have chosen Luigi and Lucia at La Saponeria in Le Marche as our Nudo soap producers of choice.

As well as having a rigid philosophy of sustainability, no chemicals, organic ingredients and all that jazz, they just make soap that makes you want to wash!  The Nudo blend is subtly scented with honey and lavender and if we didn’t know better we might suggest it is good enough to eat