A centuries-old history
This story is a current story, one of those few stories in which what "once upon a time" is still there. No wonder. We are in Abruzzo: telling a story like this, a special story is possible.
It all starts in Contrada Ceppete. We are in Tocco da Casauria, the north-eastern side of the Majella, the mother mountain of all the people of Abruzzo. Contrada Ceppete has always been the land of choice for the cultivation of vines and it is from this that it takes its name: strain is in fact synonymous with branches, after the lignification phase. But the zone combines this lexical link with the historical link of its name with that of the Filomusi family who, originally from Pesaro, moved to Atri around 1500 and from here, subsequently to Tocco da Casauria, due to incurable contrasts with the dukes of Acquaviva, powerful Atri's lords. In Tocco da Casauria he became related to the Guelfi family, who arrived in Abruzzo from Arezzo, as part of the vast agrarian reform carried out by Bernardo Tanucci, minister of Charles III of Bourbon, who promoted the transfer of numerous Tuscan families close to him who were getting lands and farms assigned, with the commitment to introduce more modern forms of land management in Abruzzo.
The Filomusi thus merged not only their own name with that of the Guelfi, otherwise destined to extinction, but also their respective heritages which already then included the ten hectares cultivated with vineyards. Contrada Ceppete is mentioned in the historical documents belonging to the Filomusi Guelfi family: in a mapping of the year 1766 we recognize the boundaries of this stretch of "Campese di coppe 6" territory which extends between slopes, waterways and provincial roads. Time seems to have been absent: the hills are the same as they were then, now outlined by the rhythmic alternation of the rows, now hidden under the shade of the pergola-grown grapes. The Filomusi Guelfi are jurists, writers, agronomists, medicine and art history lovers but they never give up the link with their land and in particular the production of wine that they sell in bulk. The only interruption in the 1950s when, due to the aftermath of the war and changing market conditions, it is more profitable to sell on the other side of the finished product. The family tradition is evidenced by the numerous documents carefully preserved, a treasure that is not jealously guarded, but rather shared. The ancient pages tell the story of the fingers that have consulted them, browsed them, caressed them.
They tell a story that always speaks the language of the earth and the hard work with which it produces fruit. An important story not only for the Filomusi Guelfi family but for Abruzzo itself. Among the documents, in fact, there is a yellowed sheet, notes traced by the handwriting of an ancestor who, taken from his counts, noted the number of boxes of Montepulciano grapes conferred by a sharecropper. The document bears the date of 1821 and can somehow contribute to giving voice to those who, historians or agronomists, are committed to demonstrating how this grape variety still retains a Tuscan name - probably derived from commercial exchanges between Abruzzo, a wool-producing region raw, and Tuscany, transformer of this into fabrics - but you designate a grape variety that has typical characteristics such as to assert with absolute certainty the nature of native grape variety. Lorenzo Filomusi Guelfi, a man of great values and culture, has dedicated himself, since the eighties , to the creation of authentic wines, blending the ancient character of the cellar with the modern one of the equipment.
With his same love, today, his children, Alessandro and Giovanni, continue the production of wines in the family business