A long journey…

We have to start from far away, from the mythical Etruscan town of Spina, to tell the story of the “Wines of the Sands” in the province of Ferrara.
It’s a journey through the centuries, where we find the “villae” of the Roman era, the Abbey of Pomposa’s Benedictine monks in the Middle Ages, the Dukes Este during the Renaissance and then the papal legates, up to the present day.
A long journey of more than 2,500 years to tell the story about the “Vino di Bosco” (today called “Fortana”) and the vine “Uva d’Oro” from which it originated, cultivated in its natural habitat since the ancient times: the sandy coastal area that extends from the Po River’s channel called “Po di Goro” to the mouth of the Reno River, along the route of the ancient “via Romea”, just where once there were large expanses of oaks, a wood called “Bosco Eliceo”.

Where we are

The Azienda Agricola Corte Madonnina is located a short walk from the Abbey of Pomposa. Our vineyards border the monastery, which in the Middle Ages was called “Insula Pomposiana” as it was under the direct jurisdiction of the Abbots of what in the first decades of the tenth century was regarded, for its spiritual and cultural importance, the “Monasterium in Italia Primum”.
The Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Pomposa were excellent winemakers and jealous guardians of the “sand wine” and precisely where, centuries ago, they cultivated the vineyard, now we do it ourselves.

TOUR OF THE AREA

The Farm

The Azienda Agricola Corte Madonnina is a historic farm that has produced for over 60 years the DOC wines of Bosco Eliceo by its own vineyards.
Particular care is applied in the cultivation of the vine, organic fertilization, pruning, cluster thinning and irrigation management, all agronomic practices aimed at obtaining quality grapes.

The winery is equipped with modern technologies for the control of temperature and oxygen at all stages of production, from fermentation of the grapes, the aging of the wines, the bottling phase, until the management of the bottles in stock.
We are a small winery and our 6 hectares of vineyards produce about 50,000 bottles, a limited production that allows us a continuous research of product’s quality.
In producing the wines of the sands our winery is deeply rooted in the territory and enhances a wine tradition which is actually centuries old, even if it’s little known.

OUR WINES