I am like my grandmother Quintilia. Everyone says I look like her, but I know that the things we have in common are not just our blue eyes and our blond hair.
Grandma Quintilia made wine and stored it in old demijohns. She was a woman of the Upper Maremma, in her stubborn way of dealing with this hard soil, when she was tending to her vineyard, in her authentic way of managing the work on the small farm near Caldana, located among the pyrite mines which my grandfather Silvio worked down each day.
I learned the value of hard work from them. From them and from my father, a steelworker in Piombino, who would take me to my grandparent’s field in the endless afternoons of my childhood. There I would breathe in the smells of the countryside with him at my side, showing me what to do, without ever needing to say a word.
I was the first in my family to go to university, the first to graduate, filled with pride, the same year in which Ampeleia was established below the austere outline of Roccatederighi. A degree earned through the toil of the whole family had to be put to good use immediately, right now, without wasting time. So, on a clear December morning, my dad accompanied me for an interview. I knew nothing about wine, or about those outsiders who had come to Maremma from the far north. But I had a thirst for learning, for doing, while bright eyed I gripped my CV in which I had written, with my infinite naivety, state of health: excellent.
They chose me and I got stuck in, working with the same tenacity as my forebears. Proud to contribute to the progress of my territory, forming a network with other producers, dealing with sales in the province of Grosseto and welcoming our guests.
I love my work, and love being Ampeleia.
