It was 2012, and I had been working for Le Macchiole for barely a year when Cinzia told me that she had a project in mind that would help promote the town of Castagneto Carducci: forty-eight 6-liter Magnum bottles of Messorio 2004- an extraordinary vintage, even unique in some respects - up for sale.
“How about doing something with the proceeds from the sale- she said- to help our area?”
I thought it over for a few days. Then I suddenly remembered myself as a child going to markets with my uncle, a street vendor, in his white truck and driving along the road to Volterra. Every single time, my eye was attracted to an old, empty billboard frame on the side of the road near Ponteginori. It was somehow ugly and fascinating at the same time: it framed the landscape perfectly, and never the same landscape. Always different views, depending on the angle of vision, the time of the day, the season of the year. And so, a sunset sky was not only beautiful: all it took was a rusty frame to make it a beautiful, framed sunset sky. Basically, a work of art. So I said to myself: why shouldn’t we do the same thing? After all, Carducci used to come to Bolgheri to observe the landscape. Well, yes, his beloved grandmother was there, waiting for him, but he gained inspiration for his poetry by contemplating the natural beauty of our land. Magnificent landscapes, sweet hills and sunsets. I was thinking of maxi frames, framing some of the town’s loveliest views, made of Corten steel, a metal which has a rust-like appearance and, besides bringing me back to my childhood memories, oozes with history and tradition. And then I came up with the idea of doing it in the 16:9 format, which is the international standard format for multimedia, allowing passers-by and tourists to take a picture and post it on social media with the hashtag #messorio04bolgheri. No two photos of the same place will ever look the same, with the background constantly changing, whether because of a cloud, the sunlight, a nuance or the sky a different shade of blue. And, who knows? Maybe someone, though unaware of it, will be lucky enough to see exactly what the Poet saw.

Giosuè Carducci was born in 1835, near Lucca, to Michele Carducci, a doctor, and Ildegonda Celli, from Volterra. In 1838, the family moved to Bolgheri, a small Tuscan town which would gain worldwide fame thanks to the poet.
One of the family’s members, the famous grandmother Lucia, was a key figure in the young Giosuè’s education and the poet lovingly sang her praises in Davanti San Guido, one of his best-known poems.

In the meantime, Italy was being swept by revolutionary ferment and Giosuè’s father, Michele, a passionate revolutionist, became increasingly involved with the insurrectionary movements. The situation degenerated so severely that, following a dispute between Michele Carducci and Bolgheri’s conservative people, some shots were fired against the family’s house and the Carduccis were forced to move to the nearby town of Castagneto (today known as Castagneto Carducci), where they stayed for nearly a year.

In 1849, the Carduccis settled in Florence and, in 1853, Giosuè was admitted into the Scuola Normale of Pisa. After graduating with honors, he began teaching rhetoric at the San Miniato al Tedesco High School.
He married Elvira and, after the birth of Beatrice and Laura, the Carducci family moved to Bologna, in a very intellectual and challenging environment, where Giosuè taught Italian oratory at the University. For many years, he passionately devoted himself to teaching and was an attentive observer of Italy’s political events, openly taking sides.
His political involvement, however, never prevented him from dreaming and describing the beauty of Bolgheri’s countryside in his poetical works. When Carducci moved back to Castagneto in 1879, in the company of friends and fellow townsmen, he held the so-called ribotte, binges during which they ate large amounts of food and drank red wine, while conversing and reciting toasts written specially for those convivial occasions.
In 1906, the Poet was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Giosuè Carducci died at the age of 72, on February 16, 1907.

Everything belongs to those who can appreciate it. A. Gide, 1926

At Le Macchiole, we feel 100% children of our land. We love it, respect it, we promote it across the world through our wines, we tell about its origins, about how fast it changes and we never forget the person who, long before us and our wines, sang of it in his poetry.
We would like those who visit our winery, walk through the town’s streets, cycle or drive along Via Bolgherese, to feel the urge to stop, relax and take in the beauty of the landscape around them, through the frames showcasing Giosuè Carducci’s best-loved sites. We would like them to feel part of a wonderful place, just even for a moment, recite the Poet’s verses, open their eyes and heart to beauty. This is what we wish for, and this is why we donated the frames to the people of Castagneto and Bolgheri and to all those who would like to come and enjoy the beauty of our land.

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