Tag Archives: Cigliuti

LABOR OF LOVE – Barbaresco Families

 

Twelve hour days, seven days a week over the last two months slowed me down a bit in keeping my loyal readers apprised of the final stages of writing and producing my first book. It’s time to announce the Labor of Love Barbaresco families that were so gracious to open up their lives to me. Barbaresco – specifically at Cà del Baio in Treiso – is where “Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte” will launch on June 2, 2016.

On February 19, the photographs, primarily from Pierangelo Vacchetto and his daughter, Elisabetta, and son, Eugenio, traveled through cyberspace to Verona, Italy where VeronaLibri will begin the process of preparing the photos for print. Now comes the final, nerve-wracking days of the last proofreading, fact-checking, and lots of prayers before designer Cindi Yaklich of Epicenter Creative in Boulder, Colorado, hits the button to send the completely designed 9.25″ x 11.5″ (23.5 cm x 29 cm), 320 page book to Verona.

In addition to the six families below, I would like to thank Marchese Alberto di Grésy and cellar master Jeffrey Chilcott of Marchesi di Grésy in Barbaresco, Renato Vacca and his father, Adriano, of Cantina del Pino in Barbaresco, Aldo Vacca of Produttori del Barbaresco, and Andrea Sottimano of Barbaresco for their kindness, invaluable guidance and resources.

So, without further delay, here are the six Barbaresco families in Labor of Love:

Cà del Baio (Giulio and Luciana Grasso family)
Treiso

Giulio and Luciana Grasso bottling their precious Barbaresco Valgrande with two of their three daughters Federica and Valentina.
Giulio and Luciana Grasso bottling their precious Barbaresco Valgrande with two of their three daughters Federica and Valentina. Photo credit: Elisabetta Vacchetto

 

Albino Rocca
Barbaresco

Albino Rocca with his granddaughters (L-R) Paola, Monica, and Daniela.
Albino Rocca with his granddaughters (L-R) Paola, Monica, and Daniela. Photo credit: Vacchetto

 

Punset (Marina Marcarino)
Neive

Marina Marcarino of Punset.
Marina Marcarino of Punset with Giuggliola (the star of Marina’s cat family)  at sunset in Neive in January 2016. Photo credit: Vacchetto

 

Cascina delle Rose (Giovanna Rizzolio)
Barbaresco

Giovanna Rizzolio and husband, Italo Sobrino (rear), with their sons Davide and Riccardo.
Giovanna Rizzolio and husband, Italo Sobrino (rear), with their sons Davide and Riccardo. Photo credit: Vacchetto

 

Gaja 
Barbaresco

(L-R) Lucia, Gaia, Angelo, Rossana, and Giovanni Gaja on via Torino in Barbaresco. Photo credit: Andrea Wyner
(L-R) Lucia, Gaia, Angelo, Rossana, and Giovanni Gaja on via Torino in Barbaresco. Photo credit: Andrea Wyner

 

Cigliuti
Neive

Renato and Dina Cigliuti with daughters, Claudia and Silvia, and Claudia's daughter, Giulia (left).
Renato and Dina Cigliuti with daughters, Claudia and Silvia, and Claudia’s daughter, Giulia (left). Photo credit: Vacchetto

Courageous Women of Piemonte

 

I began my journey to write “A Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte” when I discovered riveting stories about the courageous women of Piemonte. The first stories I heard were about Beatrice Rizzolio, grandmother of Giovanna Rizzolio of Cascina delle Rose. The courageous, brilliant woman is memorialized as a “savior” at Yad Vashem. Her designation as one of the Righteous Among the Nations came in 1975 in Rome for recognition of her courage in saving Jews during the Nazi occupation of Piemonte after the Italian armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943.

Much is known about  the courageous acts of women who fought as women partisans against the Nazis and fascisti. But what of the simple farmers who risked their lives and possessions to give aid and succor to the partisans? Little is known about them except for the stories families tell to each other and, occasionally, to an outsider like me.

One story of a courageous couple – Leone and Cornelia (Elia) Cigliuti – came to me through their granddaughter Claudia Cigliuti. The winemaking Cigliuti family has lived for centuries on the Bricco di Neive.

The Cigliuti family's west-facing vineyards on the Bricco di Neive
The Cigliuti family’s west-facing vineyards on the Bricco di Neive

The bucolic vineyard-carpeted hill was once a hotspot of Autonomi partisan activity during the Nazi occupation between September 1943 and the end of the war in May 1945.

Sympathetic to the partisans, many farming families provided the partisans with shelter and food. This placed them in grave danger. Retribution for adding partisans was swift and brutal. But the courageous Piemontesi defied the occupiers and women like Elia Cigliuti were important civilian soldiers through their resistance.

One could say Elia owed her life to chickens. One day when Elia was outside her house, she saw a group of men walking up the road next to the family’s home. Knowing Fascist soldiers were nearby and thinking the men were partisans, she waved her arms and began to shout, “Go away! Go away!” Sadly, they were not partisans.

The Fascists ran to her, threatening her life as they demanded to know who she was trying to warn. With guns aimed at her and her life in the balance, the quick-thinking Elia pointed to the chickens in the vineyard. “I was shooing away the chickens so they wouldn’t eat the grapes!” she insisted. It wasn’t an easy sell.

Eventually, Elia convinced the gun-wielding soldiers the chickens were to blame for her shouting and nothing more. Truth is, chickens are just fine in vineyards and are considered valuable “vineyard workers” since they aerate the soil, eat insects and leave behind nitrogen rich “fertilizer.” Thanks, however, to the Cigliutis’ chickens that were in the right place at the right time, and to a lack of viticultural knowledge amongst the menacing fascists, Elia lived.

Not doubt stories like this abound. Unfortunately, they will fade from history unless shared. Hopefully, more wine families of the Langhe and Roero where partisan activity was fierce will commit to paper the stories of their ancestors’ aid for the cause of liberty.

The bucolic Serraboella vineyard was the scene of fierce battles between partisans and fascists between 1943 - 1945.
The bucolic Serraboella vineyard was the scene of fierce battles between partisans and fascists between 1943 – 1945.

Want to know more about Piemonte’s wine family women? Subscribe to my blog and stay up to date on the early summer 2016 release of my book “A Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte” and follow me on Wine Families of the World on Facebook.