At the beginning of the XX century Masseria Li Veli was a cellar built on the ruins of a late Medieval structure, traces of which can still be seen in the present building. The estate is situated just outside Cellino San Marco, half way between Brindisi and Lecce, a land with a long and fascinating history which started more than 2500 years ago. The Messapi were an ancient Italic population of the “Messapia”, the name given by Greek historians to this “land between two seas”, the Ionic and the Adriatic, which comprises the provinces of southern Apulia: Lecce, Brindisi and part of Taranto. First indications of the Messapian civilization date back to the VIII century B.C. After 272 B.C. they became part of the territory of Rome, while partly preserving their own identity. Nowadays many traces of that ancient civilization are still visible: the remains of walls, tomb stones, terracotta objects, gold and silver artefacts.
In 1999 the Falvo family, with over 40 years of experience in the wine business, purchased and renovated the property to give birth to an ambitious project in Apulia, a region with a long vine-growing tradition.
Masseria Li Veli is located on an ancient Messapian site dominating the fertile and sunny Salento plain. It was founded by the Marquis Antonio de Viti de Marco (1858-1943), an internationally known Italian economist and university professor, Radical Party Deputy of the Reign of Italy, whose ambitious project was to transform the Masseria into a model cellar for the entire South. Today the beautifully restored Masseria covers an area of 33.000sqm, 3750 of which include offices, a reception area, vinification, storage and ageing cellars.