These 23 Italian Vineyards Are the Most Beautifully Designed Wineries in the Country

From Brescia to Pisa, the architecture housing the wine rivals the beauty surrounding it

Designed by Mario Botta as a stone cylinder bisected by a flight of steps, Terra Moretti’s Petra is carved into the front of a Maremma hillside. The architect was asked to express the passion of the Italian vineyard’s founder, Vittorio Moretti, in a building. Botta observed the geometric pattern of the winery that contrasts with the undulating terrain and envisioned a single, rational structure sitting above the valley on an elongated plateau surrounded by vines. The cylindrical volume, clad in Prun stone (an Italian limestone), houses the tanks where the wine is produced. A long tunnel running the length of the building ends in front of a rock face, in the heart of the hill.

Started as an open dialogue with the village of Casanova, the Casanova Della Spinetta winery is the first to bring high design to the Pisa area. Designed by Italian Canadian architect Giulietta Roz and built partially underground, this energy efficient building has simple volumes designed to ensure a smooth flow from operations to production, thanks in part to a clever use of light that acts as guiding force. To combine tradition and innovation, natural materials such as wood, terra-cotta, and iron were used in the construction.

Travertine that surfaced during the tilling of the land, now planted with vines, covers the exteriors of the aboveground parts of the buildings. The arched portico is a tribute to the historic Spedale degli Innocenti in Florence and creates a link between inside and outside. The cellar has been conceived as a temple of wine with an exposed reinforced concrete structure. Sails, printed with wine labels, are suspended from the 16-foot-tall ceiling. The roof is entirely planted with olive trees, and the tasting room opens onto terraces that offer front-row views to nature’s spectacular show in every season.

AndStudio’s project for Podere La Chiesa is a work of modern architecture integrated into the natural amphitheater of the Casanova valley in Terre di Pisa. Using reinforced concrete walls pierced by portholes, the firm brings the landscape into the tasting area. The circular perforations create clusters that, from the inside, frame the landscape and make it a central part of the project. Some great Tuscan reds and whites are produced at this architectural beauty.

The Fonterutoli winery, designed by architect Agnese Mazzel, is well loved in Chianti. The estate sits at an elevation ranging from 750 to 1,600 feet and covers an expanse of 1,600 acres, 290 of them vineyards. The winery is located on three floors, allowing the harvested grapes in the forecourt to “descend” through the various stages of the winemaking and maturation process in the most natural way possible, using the force of gravity. The dramatic cellar has an exposed rock wall that encloses the space where as many as 3,500 barrels are kept.

Hikaru Mori designed the structure for the Feudi di San Gregorio winery in 2001, with its spare lines and striking spaces both inside and in the gardens. It was one of the first designer wineries in Italy and was exhibited twice at the Venice Biennale. The interiors and furnishings were designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli. In 2011, with the help of Roman gallerist Beatrice Bertini, an art project was also established with the aim of creating a permanent collection including pieces created by artists during workshops in the cellar. The first of these works is Colature by Vedovamazzei.

Like the communal table from which it takes its name, Gavino Sanna’s Cantina Mesa in Sulcis has a convivial and simple spirit. A three-story building set amid 193 acres of vines bears the stylized motifs of Sardinian carpets (the same ones found on the winery’s labels) on its façade, transforming it into a tapestry visible from afar.

Designed with the utmost respect for the grapes that are cultivated at this vineyard, the eco-friendly Alta Mora winery enjoys significant savings with its natural thermal insulation and the use of energy from biomass material. Made from local natural materials—lava stone and opus signinum (an ancient Roman material of crushed tiles mixed with mortar)—the building blends in perfectly with the volcanic landscape.

Rocca delle Macìe is Italy’s first “cinematic winery,” where wine, gastronomy, and cinema coexist synergistically. This mission has its roots in film producer Italo Zingarelli’s dream to be able to own and work the land of Chianti. His dream came true in 1973, when he bought this property. The original Macìe estate included 230 acres of which only five were planted with vines—the beginnings of this new winery in the heart of Chianti. Today, the winery covers about 1200 acres, almost 500 of which are planted with vines and 54 with olive groves, divided among six estates.

At the winery, you can also visit a museum dedicated to two of Zingarelli’s most successful films, Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity) and Continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (Trinity is Still My Name), with set memorabilia, other artifacts, and rarely seen photos from the shoot, making this a new film-lover’s destination in the heart of Chianti Classico.

Architect Markus Scherer designed a new headquarters for Nals Margreid, built from the same materials used to construct the production facilities—concrete, wood, and steel. His building brings together the history and tradition of the winery, whose original nucleus dates back to 1764 as the Von Campi estate (joined in 1932 by the Nals winery and in 1985 by Magrè), with the rigorous modernity of South Tyrolean architecture, all while respecting the surrounding natural environment. Later, at the 2013 Venice Biennale’s Le Cattedrali del vino (or Cathedrals of Wine) competition, this winery was honored in the interior design category.

The Pellegrino wineries in Marsala, founded in 1880, are among the most important of historic Italian vineyards. The modern ouverture has large halls and terraces overlooking the Egadi Islands, while the Pellegrino Towers are a beautiful example of industrial archaeology, with an existing building converted into a refined and bright panoramic hall. In the Teatro a Mare Pellegrino 1880, the Enrico Russo Memorial A Scurata event takes place each year. During this time, 12 theatrical works are staged with the Salina Genna in the Stagnone nature reserve as a backdrop, their salt flats turning pink at sunset. This stage, suspended over the water, is the only theater in the world built atop a salt flat.

Via Architectural Digest