Monserrato 1973

The Monserrato winery was born in 1973 from an intuition of Cavalier Francesco Zecchina, a Neapolitan building constructor and wine enthusiast, who a few years earlier decided to follow his passion in the hills around Benevento, at the foot of Monte Serrato, repairing a ruin dating back to the 1962 Irpinia earthquake.

With the help of a young friend and farmer, he started planting tobacco and olive trees, halfway up the hill, on an area of about 60 hectares fed by spring water. At the end of the 1980s the production was basically tobacco, olives and grapes. Oil and wine were mainly produced for family use and given to friends and relatives, gifts that were so much appreciated that they were gratefully requested.

After a period of transition, the farm is now run by Francesco's daughter Paola and his son Lucio. In recent years, a process of corporate restructuring has been initiated with the aim of introducing new indigenous vines, expanding the olive-growing area and replacing tobacco production with various arable crops. tobacco production with various organic crops, a genuine expression of the territory. Currently, three labels of oil and a line of five wines are produced from the farm's olive groves and vineyards.

Again with the intention of using organic practices to enhance the area's indigenous products, an ancient variety of durum wheat, Saragolla wheat, has been cultivated. This famous yellow-grain wheat, introduced into central Italy in 400 AD, became widespread in Italy during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, to the extent that the term Saragolla was used to identify durum wheat in general. The cultivation of this unique wheat has given rise to a line of pasta made entirely from 100% Saragolla durum wheat, also whole wheat. In addition to wheat, the company has also developed the cultivation of indigenous varieties of legumes from the Benevento area such as chickpeas and beans.