Wine, peace and brotherhood, “Vigneto del Mediterraneo” created in the heart of Gibellina in Sicily

Wine and vineyards have always symbolized the union between populations and brotherhoods, between different people and cultures. The "Vigneto del Mediterranero" (Mediterranean vineyard) has been created to witness this eternal wine spirit, once again. The event will include different types of Moscato, coproduced in different countries of "Mare Nostrum", and that is, France, Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, Greece, Italy and Malta, and will take place in the vineyard the Tenute Orestiadi winery donated to the town of Gibellina, near the Botanical Gardens. Rosario Di Maria, president of the Cantine Ermes group - Tenute Orestiadi, announced the event at the recently held Scirocco Wine Fest, the festival that showcased the stars of wines and flavors from seven countries, and included master classes, cooking challenges, cooking shows, as well as shows and cultural encounters dedicated to the art and culture of wine, in the small town of Trapani, whose historical center, destroyed by the Belice earthquake, has been transformed into the Cretto di Burri, a Land Art work, by the artist Alberto Burri .
“We want to launch a bridge over the Mare Nostrum from Gibellina to create dialogue, openness and exchange, using the Scirocco wind and the wine of 7 Mediterranean countries”, said Rosario Di Maria. We are very satisfied with this project that, once again, has celebrated wine as an aggregating force and the symbol of intercultural dialogue”.
The message crystallizes in the "Vigneto del Mediterraneo", in the name of Ludovico Corrao, the former mayor of Gibellina who transformed the old city into a large open-air artistic workshop after the earthquake, calling on artists like Leonardo Sciascia, Arnaldo Pomodoro and Mimmo Paladino, among many others.
To give even more substance to the message of peace and brotherhood the vineyard has embodied, and in the entire territory of Gibellina, reborn thanks also to the fundamental contribution of the Cantine Ermes - Tenute Orestiadi, the "Stella della Pace Award Ludovico Corrao for dialogue between Mediterranean Cultures", organized by the Municipal administration, went to Doctors Without Borders, the independent international medical-humanitarian organization Nobel Peace Prize 1999 “for the important humanitarian action carried out daily giving medical aid to thousands of people in all over the entire world who are victims of emergencies, wars and natural disasters, bearing witness to the suffering of the people, witnessing and turning the spotlight on forgotten humanitarian emergencies”.
“The creation of this Prize for Peace”, said Tanino Bonifacio, Councilor for Culture the Municipality of Gibellina”, aims to make Gibellina a workshop city in which one experiences the idea that culture and art are bridges that bring people closer no matter the human and geographical differences. In the name of art, and in the name of Ludovico Corrao, the Stella della Pace Award is a visionary look to build humanity that is accepting and embraces one another”.
The actor Cesare Bocci, also known to the general public for having interpreted inspector Mimi Augello in the highly successful TV series “Il Commissario Montalbano” will be on stage to read some songs from “Il Sogno Mediterrático” by Ludovico Corrao and “Solo Viva” and “Lay Prayer” by Erri de Luca. “People say”, Bocci said, “that the roots of Sicily are like a tree that creates extraordinary fruits, and it has given them art, culture, politics, and great explorers. Sicily is a land that must continue to cultivate itself and carry on its great traditions. The Scirocco Wine Fest is based on these traditions: the culture of wine but also art, because after the devastation of the earthquake, Gibellina was rebuilt in the sign of art, becoming an open-air museum. I believe that the young people of this city have grown up in the midst of the beauty of art and that they have been formed in an absolutely positive way”.