The revival of Montefalco, thanks to Sagrantino, the Italian model restarting the post pandemic era

The sociologist Aldo Bonomi, founder of Aaster, at the 50-year anniversary celebration of Aldo Caprai Winery, said, “Max Weber maintained that property obliges. The story of Arnaldo Caprai is about a man who felt obliged to return to his European heritage, starting with the textile business museum. In modern times, though, the feeling of obligation has changed. Property no longer obliges, while instead, innovation obliges. And, here enter the American political scientist, Robert Putnam, and his theory on civic virtues. Putnam observed that social capital bears in itself the sense of “civic virtue”, expanding coverage; however, it is not possible to say the contrary, because a society that has very virtuous, but isolated individuals, is not necessarily rich in social capital. The civic virtue inscribed in reciprocal social relations is his most accomplished development. In this context, social capital is identified with the cultural requirements inherent in the structure of relationships, in the values ​​and norms that promote a social order marked by the overall cooperation for the public good. The economy does not predict civics, but civic engagement predicts the economy and does it even better than economy itself. This sentence further contains the importance of the farming structure, which produces maintenance of the territory that in turn produces beauty and then tourism and culture, and which Caprai represents”. The 50-year anniversary celebration was held a few days ago at the Franciscan Museum of Montefalco. There was a “Special Edition” of Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG 2016 Fifty Years, and a valuable collector’s label in pure gold, by the Internationally renowned artist, Paolo Canevari. Furthermore, participating and dialoguing at the event were famous personalities such as the art critic, Vittorio Sgarbi, the art historian and curator Cristiana Perrella, and the president of the Italian farmers’ confederation, Confagricoltura, Massimiliano Giansanti. The central themes of conversation were territory, business, green society, culture, tourism and art, “combined” to the entrepreneurial story of Arnaldo and Marco Caprai, entrepreneurs in the textile and wine sectors. The Caprais also generated the re-launch of an entire area, such as Montefalco, thanks to the ancient wine, Sagrantino, which was the symbol of Umbria and was in danger of disappearing. Today, instead, it is in the International limelight, and has become the model to follow in the post-pandemic future.
The future, according to Bonomi, in which, “there certainly will be an ecological crisis, and, this is the point where we return again to the civic virtues, as there are far more than in other regions in Italy and Europe in Umbria, as it is a land of saints and Sagrantino, that has a lot to teach us all”. Plus, it is the land in which Caprai wrote half a century of history, a goal not to be taken for granted, “especially for those of us who never stopped at the thresholds of our farms”, said Marco Caprai, “but we always walked across them, thinking of the territory, tourism and development”. They did it by saving the Sagrantino wine from extinction. It was a wine with an ancient history, created in the Middle Ages as a wine for Mass, by Saint Francis’ followers. The Sagrantino grapes are mentioned in the “Naturalis Historia” by Pliny the Elder, and also represented in frescoes of the Church of San Francesco in Montefalco, depicted by the Renaissance painter Benozzo Gozzoli, and whose gems Caprai saved, together with the University of Milan, in the Convent of St. Clare in the historic Umbrian town.
“The greatness of Italian art, which is incomparable and immeasurable, is very close to the size of our wine production”, said Vittorio Sgarbi, in what might be a digression on Umbrian and Italian art, even contemporary, continued, “the artistic bottle for Caprai’s fifty years has managed to give wine art and gold, using a divine metaphor that can only lead to saying that if God exists it is because he made truffles and Sagrantino”. Wine and art, the critic told WineNews, together with the beauty of the Italian territory, have led “to the UNESCO Heritage recognition of the vineyards in the Prosecco hills, before Giotto. And the Langhe, Monferrato and Roero, thanks to its founder Carlo Petrini Slow Food, represented the first UNESCO entry on behalf of a good agriculture symbol of a rural world that was once the absolute contrast to that of culture. Today, they live together. Their connection was established and celebrated by UNESCO, but also by personalities like Oscar Farinetti, Brunello Cucinelli and Marco Caprai, who understand that culture and agriculture go together. The bond with Sagrantino and Benozzo Gozzoli, like Prosecco and Giotto, is the symbol of fertile territories and the level of artistic creation of material products, both at the same time fundamental for our lives. We must therefore continue to do what tradition dictates, preserving and recovering our artistic and cultural heritage, and not damaging it”.
Massimiliano Giansanti, president of Confagricoltura, said, “Caprai is at the forefront of the production processes for Italian agriculture, and he is the symbol of awareness, responsibility, pride to be a farmer, pride for their land”. Furthermore, these 50 years of the winery, said the president of the Umbria Region, Donatella Tesei, “are an important anniversary, not only for the Umbrian agricultural enterprise, but also for the entire territory and the Italian wine industry, because the model of territorial development in Montefalco is a case history that is also studied overseas and is the merit of the farsightedness of this firm in proposing a new way of doing business, to the point of creating, over the decades, a flourishing production focused entirely on wine tourism. In Italy that is restarting, the future of Umbria should be the model for the villages in our territory”.
To celebrate its first 50 years, the winery has officially unveiled a limited edition of Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG collectible, together with Paolo Canevari and made by an antique Florentine company, Just Manenti Battiloro. The gold leaf label for the wine of 50 years of activity is the latest example of how to interact with the territory, culture and tradition in wine. The label, signed by the International artist will dress 2.400 bottles inspired by the panel, “Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria”, by Benozzo Gozzoli, dated 1466 and preserved at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Aurelio De Felice, in Terni. “The works of Paolo Canevari are deceptively simple, and immediate. He uses powerful images that are the successful synthesis of many references, many thoughts, a lot of history”, said Cristiana Perrella, “that embrace a dignified tone and a popular tone. They are icons in that they represent symbolically complex meanings, but they do it by emphasizing a form that is clear to all. The label for the fifty-year anniversary of Caprai Sagrantino, by Canevari, demonstrates this. The form is minimal, essential, precious, made of gold leaf, in reference to the history of art, and the deep cultural roots of a territory, which thanks to these roots has been able to increase its value as well as innovate and invent a future for themselves”. For this “birthday”, Chef Gianfranco Visscher created his new recipe, “Research Earth”, a dish dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary, and consists of ravioli lentils, Parmigiano Vacche Rosse, carbonara sauce with black pepper, and the nectar of “Sagrantino 25 Years”.