Museo Renato Ratti rearises in Monastery of Marcenasco: a trip among wine, history and innovation

Arisen from a place rich in history, and a vision which transformed the way one thinks about wine, on October, 25th, the new exhibition route of the Renato Ratti Museum of Barolo and Alba Wines, housed in the restored spaces of the Monastery of the Annunziata in Marcenasco, at la Morra, in the heart of the Unesco World Heritage Langhe region, opens to the public. Following a significant restoration and redevelopment effort, the museum experience has been renewed thanks to the collaboration between the municipality of La Morra and the Ratti Winery. The project, initiated by Pietro Ratti, returns the Monastery to the community as a place of memory and rebirth, and tells the story of Renato Ratti legacy through contemporary language, one of the great innovators of Piedmontese wine.
The museum develops on two levels: on the ground floor, Ratti life story is interwoven with the history of La Morra and the Langhe, through documents, photographs, maps, and explanatory panels in both Italian and English, enriched by videos from the documentary Renato Ratti, the innovator of Barolo. In the basement, within the ancient cellars, visitors will find historical objects from the ethnographic museum created by Ratti in the 1970s, alongside multimedia installations which offer an interactive experience, presenting dynamic maps of the Cru vineyards and the main labels of the territory.
The exhibition highlights Renato Ratti’s many contributions to local culture and economy: from the classification of vintages to his leadership of Consorzio di Tutela dei vini piemontesi - Consortium for the Protection of Piedmontese Wines, from publishing essays and conferences worldwide to the introduction of Cru, and to the valorization of the Albeisa bottle. Beyond wine history, the museum also tells the history of the Monastery of the Annunziata, an imposing and austere building that housed a multi-grade elementary school until the 1970s and later became the museum itself. Thanks to an investment of over 2 million euros, supported by the Municipality, the Crc Foundation, and the Ratti Agricultural Company, the Monastery has now been reborn as a museum and multipurpose hall, with restored frescoes and accessible spaces, while further educational and exhibition uses are also on planning.
The Renato Ratti Museum thus presents itself as a vibrant and accessible place, capable of conveying the passion and vision of someone who changed the way we think about wine, offering Italian and international visitors a unique cultural experience that blends history, innovation, and territory.