Wine and art, the works of Salvo, one of Italy’s most acclaimed artists, at Tenuta di Trinoro

As we often mention, there are many projects in Italy that bring together wine and art in various forms, ranging from wine cellars to designer labels, to full-fledged wine patronage, with wineries transforming into actual art galleries, or producers investing in exhibitions, awards, and initiatives. And while some arise from specific ideas and project plans, others emerge almost spontaneously, born of friendship or mutual respect between people, and then evolve into something more. Such was the case with Andrea Franchetti, one of the most unconventional figures in the wine world, a producer of absolute excellence in both Val d’Orcia, with Tenuta di Trinoro, and Etna, with Passopisciaro, a “wine philosopher” and connoisseur of wine regions worldwide, who passed away in 2021, and Salvo, born Salvatore Mangione, a Sicilian artist born in Enna in 1947 but who spent most of his life in Turin (until his death in 2015), whose works are now among the most sought-after in the art collecting world. He was also the designer of the labels for Tenuta di Trinoro, now led by Andrea’s son, Benjamin Franchetti, who, together with the Salvo Archive, recently chose to celebrate this historic friendship by staging an exhibition of works at Podere Palazzi, which lends its name to one of the estate’s Crus, and to present the new vintage of Tenuta di Trinoro 2023.
An exhibition featuring some of Salvo’s works (his output is estimated at over 5,000 pieces), ranging from various versions of the same Trinoro to one of his many Saint George and the Dragon paintings, among Salvo’s favorite subjects, from Oranges to Lemons at Noon, from Moonlight to One Evening, all the way to Drunken Bacchus, which is also a self-portrait of Salvo himself, in the guise of the god of wine, depicted alongside his partner and friend, the artist Alighiero Boetti, with whom Salvo shared a studio until 1971, among the many artists he frequented and knew, such as Merz, Paolini, Penone, Pistoletto, Zorio, and others. The connection between Andrea Franchetti and Salvo, and between the Franchetti family and art, is no coincidence.
“The family history is dotted with great collectors and patrons, such as Andrea’s uncle, Giorgio Franchetti, a central figure in Italian visual culture, deeply connected to artists of the caliber of Cy Twombly (who married Giorgio’s sister). And there is a fascinating legend in the world of wine, according to which Andrea Franchetti purchased the first plots of land and financed the initial vineyards at Trinoro by selling a painting by the great Twombly”, they say at Trinoro. And the exhibition dedicated to Salvo’s work, whose signature style, “characterized by bright colors, minimalist landscapes, and dreamlike geometries”, is reflected in the very labels of Trinoro’s wines and was so beloved by Andrea Franchetti, also served as a “powerful symbol of continuity in the path taken by Benjamin Franchetti - the second generation at the helm of the winery - who carries on his father Andrea’s vision: Tenuta di Trinoro’s winemaking project will remain in constant dialogue with the world of art and culture”.
“I don’t know if Salvo spent much time in Trinoro, but in all likelihood, according to my father’s stories - explained Benjamin Franchetti to WineNews - he didn’t paint Trinoro and its labels here, but elsewhere, as he often did in his work. But then again, my father never really lived in Sicily either, yet he was captivated by it. He married a woman from Palermo (my mother) and, with Passopisciaro, revolutionized wine on Mount Etna. Salvo, on the other hand, was born in Sicily - as Benjamin writes in his preface to the exhibition catalog - but he, too, never really lived there; at the age of nine, he moved to Turin, where he spent his entire life. Yet Sicily is omnipresent in his paintings - the Church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, Mount Etna erupting… but also when, in other places, he adds a touch of Sicily in the details: a dome, a palm tree, colors too bright for otherwise drier landscapes, a cheerfulness that masks the nostalgia for places you feel inside, but in which you have never lived. My father brought his world to Sicily. Salvo brought Sicily into his world. And, with this exhibition, we’ve tried to tell a little of that story”.
And as mentioned, it was also an opportunity to present Tenuta di Trinoro’s 2023 vintage, the product of “a vintage not to be controlled, but to be embraced”, marked by snowfall, frosts, spring rains, and a scorching October, as winemaker Lorenzo Fornaini noted. The 2023 blend “arises from a combination of Cabernet Franc (80%) and Merlot (20%) from high-altitude vineyards, between 500 and 600 meters, where nighttime cold is constant, albeit for just a few hours, even in an October when summer seemed reluctant to give way to autumn”. The result is an intense wine with notes of wild blackberry, undergrowth, wet stone, and graphite, capable of being elegant and light despite a powerful vintage. And for a Tenuta di Trinoro that, as Andrea Franchetti loved to say, as Lorenzo Fornaini also recalled, is “different every year, yet true to itself”.