There is a hidden treasure in Venice, of which not even some inhabitants know of its existence: it is the oldest urban vineyard in the city, it is at least 800 years old and is hidden in one of the three cloisters of the San Francesco della Vigna complex which, in addition to the church – another little-known treasure – with a Palladian façade, it houses the convent of the Friars Minor, the Institute of Ecumenical Studies and the Library, whose book heritage consists of an ancient collection consisting of about 30 thousand volumes and a modern collection of about 80 thousand works.
In addition to the church and the library, the first cloister of the convent which houses «Off the Skins», a celebratory exhibition set up in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Pinot Grigio Santa Margherita: a temporary exhibition created in collaboration with the young students of the European Institute of Design (IED) in Venice (pinotgrigio.santamargherita.com).
The name of the exhibition derives from the revolutionary “white” vinification technique, a great intuition of Count Gaetano Marzotto and his team of oenologists, who obtained from the coppery skin of Pinot Grigio a brilliant, elegant white wine, which made its debut on the market in 1961 and within a few years it conquered the world, becoming an icon in 90 countries.
“Now we want to tell our story in a contemporary way and bring new consumers closer, enhancing the Italian origins of this great wine”, he explained Beniamino Garofalo, CEO of the group.
The exhibition is a story in pictures: a series of multisensory installations traces the history of Pinot Grigio through six decades, seen and interpreted graphically by the students of the IED: of these 14 works, six will become the labels of the capsule collection that will be launched in the autumn to celebrate the anniversary.
To make the vision even more suggestive, in the silence of the convent the visitor is accompanied by a musical composition created by the sound artist Yilin Zhu inspired by the sounds of fermentation, processing, bottling and the barely perceptible one of the wine poured into the glass.
The choice of the place to set up the exhibition is not accidental: since 2019 the vineyard has been cared for by the agronomists of Santa Margherita, which replaced the old Teroldego vines with Glera and Malvasia. The wine that will be obtained? It is still a secret.
“The recovery of urban vineyards is one of the most important initiatives that the world of wine can and must do today to keep the bond with its history and traditions strong and alive”, he says. Gaetano Marzotto, President of Santa Margherita Wine Group.
«It is a source of great pride to be able to intervene for the protection of the historical and architectural heritage of the San Francesco della Vigna complex and to transfer the technical skills of our team of oenologists to restore splendor to this urban vineyard. A little less than a century ago, my grandfather, Count Gaetano Marzotto, chose the Venetian hinterland to start a real revolution in the Italian agro-industry ».
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