Don't know if it really does have healing or medicinal properties but
decades ago women in my fam used it to moisturize newborns skin. While
Moms bathed their new babies, they placed a closed bottle of Pompeian
olive oil in the water to warm and after they dried theit babies they
generously oiled them all over. Then they took another dry towel and
wiped off the excess. They finished up by powdering them with Johnson
baby powder (surprisingly, there was no sticky oil residue). The baby's
skin was blemish free and smooth as a baby's... May be some ancient
African thing (maybe originally with coconut oil) like my Grandfather
taking his newborn grandchildren who were around him out into the spring
rain.