The restored Tenuta Tascante and the new Graci winery awarded at “In/Architettura 2023 Sicilia”

The motivation for awarding the restoration of Tenuta Tascante, located on the slopes of Mount Etna, one of the five Estates belonging to the Sicilian brand Tasca d’Almerita, created in 2021 by Studio MAB Arquitectura of Sicily, headed by the Sicilian architects Floriana Marotta and Massimo Basile the “In/Architecture 2023 - Sicily” award, read as follows: “The project consisted in restoring a pre-existing, rural building, demonstrating that it is possible to intervene on historical heritage through integrating the artefact to current architectural qualities”. The prestigious award is dedicated to the most innovative, efficient and ethical projects to enhance the territory as well as society, in the “Regeneration/recovery interventions” category.
The initiative was promoted by IN/Arch (National Institute of Architecture), and ANCE (National Association of Building Contractors), together with the collaboration of Archilovers, an international network for architecture and design. Furthermore, another project signed by MAB Arquitectura and commissioned by Tasca d’Almerita - restoring the nineteenth-century Capofaro Lighthouse, located on a promontory overlooking the Salina Sea, was awarded a Special Mention for its extraordinary architectural, landscape, historical and cultural values, recovered through enhancing each of these aspects.
The Sicilian winery, Cantina Graci, in Castiglione di Sicilia, was among those awarded the “New Construction Interventions” award, and it also won the WTW - Willis Towers Watson Special Prize, for its ACA - Amore Campione Architettura project, because of “the aesthetic beauty combined with simplicity, given by the use of reinforced concrete inside the structure, and total integration into the surrounding environment. The most prominent element is, in fact, the total integration with nature; the idea of inserting the building completely into the ground, almost hiding it, makes us realize the importance they have given it; in other words, it is considered a fundamental, almost sacred element.
Hundreds of projects from all over Italy competed for the three “In/Architettura” 2023 awards (The New Construction Interventions, Redevelopment Interventions on Existing Building Heritage - restoration, renovation, regeneration and special awards), on the National and regional levels. The juries, composed of architects, University professors and professionals in the sector, while the majority of the Italian Regions have not yet expressed their opinions. The Veneto Region has also revealed its winners and has awarded a winery in the “New Construction Projects” category: Cantina Gorgo. Cantina Gorgo, which boasts 53 hectares of organic vineyards in the Custoza area, surrounded by the Moraine hills of Lake Garda, commissioned the Bricolo-Falsarelle Architecture Studio to create an open environment dedicated to tasting and enjoying the environmental scenery, following in the footsteps of the traditional, historic Italian gardens. The result is the reinterpretation of the rural typology, “Brolo”, a model of the hybrid space between inside and outside that has persisted for centuries in the Veneto countryside.
Many projects from the other Italian Regions dedicated to new and ancient wineries are also competing, such as the Il Bruciato winery, built in 2021 by ASV3 - Architecture Workshop for Marchesi Antinori in Donoratico; the reinforced concrete Podere La Chiesa winery, in Terricciola, province of Pisa, designed by the architect, Andrea Mannocci; “Cantina Nuova” of Vigne Surrau, in Arzachena, built in 2021 by Studio Meloni Architettura; the new winery of Azienda Agricola 366, in Canavese, in the province of Turin, commissioned to the DF+A Studio of the architect Davide Fornero; the BRH+ project for Cascina Elena Winery, in Alta Langa; the underground winery Filodivino, in the Marche, a project signed by the architect Cristiana dell'Acqua and created in 2018; Azienda Agricola Il Ceresé winery, in Montevecchia (Lecco), designed by Pietro Martino Federico Pizzi; the regeneration of an abandoned industrial space which became, in 2021, the new Fantini Winery (project by Rocco Valentini Architecture), in Ortona, Abruzzo, and the extension of the Cupano winery, brand of Brunello di Montalcino, perfectly integrated into the territory and landscape context, based on a project by Edorado Milesi & Archos.

Focus - “In/Architettura 2023 - Sicily” Award: the recovery and regeneration of Tenuta Tascante
Restoration involved reconstructing the buildings on the Contrada Pianodario Estate in Randazzo, immersed in a rural landscape, surrounded by terraces of dry lava stone walls and rows of native varieties of vines from which the Etna of Tasca d'Almerita wines are produced. The architectural conformation of the millstones is closely linked to the function they carry out, and is designed to optimize flows and exploit the principles of gravitation in transporting and in pressing grapes, until they are put inside the barrels. The result has been formed on several levels, going from +2 m in the warehouses to -4 m in the barrel cellar. Recovering the Estate involved restoring the Palmento and the winemaker's house, and giving them a new function while at the same time, respecting and enhancing their architectural essence. The Palmento has become a museum, and tells the story of wine production on Etna; the barrel cellar hosts tastings, meetings and press conferences; the winemaker's house, with its small kitchen and living room heated by a custom-designed lava stone fireplace, welcomes guests, offering tastings of local and home-grown products. The exteriors, bound to the Etna Park Counsel, have maintained the original materials. The facades have been restored using a philological approach in technique and in the use of traditional materials, such as “cocciopesto” (lime mortar and crushed clay pottery). The wooden roofs have chestnut wood trusses and have been rebuilt or compensated where they were damaged, utilizing the same nineteenth-century technology, by a local company that has maintained the tradition of craftsmanship and construction typical of those areas. Interventions on the landscape were minimal, given its beauty. The paths are made of recycled lava stone slabs and gravel, and the surrounding walls and terrace walls were recovered and constructed in lava stone, using the dry wall technique.