The wine world is in mourning for Lapo Mazzei, the protagonist of the history of Chianti Classico

The world of wine, and not only, salutes a great protagonist of the twentieth century: Lapo Mazzei died on his estate in Fonterutoli, at the age of 94, among the great exponents of the Florentine aristocracy linked to agriculture and, of course, to wine, which has contributed in a fundamental way to guide in modernity. The life of Marquis Mazzei, however, has not been a life linked only to enology, but rather has gone through recent history in many different roles: as a volunteer, he participated in the Liberation of Italy, fighting alongside the English troops, while after graduating in agriculture took over the reins of the family business, Castello di Fonterutoli, in Chianti since 1435, becoming, in 1974, president of the Consortium of Chianti Classico, a position he maintained for twenty years, during which he gave a decisive boost to the renewal and promotion of the territory. In the following years, the Mazzei family added to the Fonterutoli Castle two other estates, Belguardo, in Maremma, and Zisola, in Sicily. But important in the life of Marquis Lapo Mazzei, was also the role he was able to play in the banking world, where he was a director of the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze from 1957, to become its president from 1980 to 1992, years in which he founded and directed many other realities, such as the Leasing Center and Findomestic.