The Italian Harvest Story
Our Mission
ItalianHarvest.com imports food and ceramics from regions in Italy that have little or no representation in the United States. Our products are handmade by artisans and small family run factories that still use old world craftsmanship and techniques.
The ceramic art and specialty foods available in our web store or in our shops, named La Raccolta, in San Francisco and Mill Valley, California, reflect the regional history of Italian art and customs going back centuries. Some of our ceramists hand paint their creations in their homes, on their family farms or in small shops and factories located in Italy's important and most active ceramic centers. Our food products reflect the regions of their origin in Italy - either through their flavor imparted from the particular geography of the land (the lemons of the Amalfi coast, the almonds of Sicily), or the customs of the people.
Our Products
We have regional specialties such as almond stuffed figs from Calabria, Panforte from Siena, Gianduia hazelnut chocolates from Piemonte, Renaissance decorations from Umbria and the famous lemon themed ceramics from the Amalfi Coast. We also feature hard-to-find food specialties and ceramics from Sicily, including the ceramic "trinacria," the ancient symbol of the three legged face and fabulous almonds in honey. These, like so many of our products, are simply not otherwise available in the U.S.
Our History
Husband and wife founders of ItalianHarvest.com, John Blount and Victoria Doggett, began seeking out the products you can purchase on this web site and in the California stores while they were visiting Italy in the fall of 1999. John is a native of Italy and was raised surrounded by his Italian family and friends. He has traveled throughout the country and learned about the different regions and customs.
Victoria is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area where she has practiced various art forms since the mid 1980s, including creative writing, performance art, painting and mosaic art.
After John moved to San Francisco, he met Victoria while he was working as a biologist and she as a nurse. They decided to start La Raccolta as an outgrowth of John's knowledge of Italy and all things Italian, and Victoria's artistic sensitivity and love of traveling through Italy. The beautiful aesthetic of Italian packaging and the quality of artisanal Italian foods seemed a natural complement to the colorful craftsmanship of Italian ceramics.
The first La Raccolta store opened in the Italian neighborhood of North Beach in San Francisco, in October, 2000. A second store opened in Mill Valley, California in November, 2001. The italianharvest.com web site launched at the end of 2002.
site design by Phil Glatz/electronovelty