The winery has its premises inside an old building once used for the casting of iron (foundry) situated in the Municipality of Atina in the Province of Frosinone, more precisely in the Rosanisco district. This plant was built and inaugurated by Ferdinand II of Bourbon in 1858 and was used to process the iron extracted from the nearby mines of Mount Meta, which were already famous at the time of the Romans and contributed to render Atina "potens". Today we can still admire the wall structures of the large ironworks complex "LA FERRIERA". The plant, built of ashlar-worked local limestone and smooth bricks, was made up of an impressive blast furnace (13 metres high and 2.80 wide), still in existence, set upon a platform squared off to form a stone terrace, which is still well preserved. The platform was supported on four pilasters covered with freestone, beneath which we can still admire the fine Bourbon coat of arms sculpted in stone and set on the keystone of the main arch. In order to function, the furnace required a complex of other buildings, such as warehouses to store the raw materials, workshops, administrative offices and lodgings for the staff, as well as a series of constructions appointed to different uses that are still visible and in use today. The plant was also equipped with a bellows or blowing machine for the ventilation of the furnace, with a kiln built of refractory bricks and a hydraulic load tank with related turbine to move the mechanical organs: unfortunately none of this equipment has survived since the operation of the foundry was doomed to failure and at the end of I860 the "Magona di Atina" was closed down, ransacked and abandoned. As it now stands, the ironworks complex has retained its original form and appearance; the main facade of the ancient plant has remained unaltered, while in the right wing of the factory, terraced on the ground floor and with a spacious internal courtyard (30.08 metres by 37.24) with an impressive and beautiful secular poplar tree in the middle, the premises formerly used as warehouses, offices etc. now house the winery and the modern equipment for the production of wine. |
Tthe history Of the 'Cabernet di Atina' The Cabernet and Syrah grape varieties were first planted in Atina by Pasquale Visocchi as far back as I860 when he introduced a number of prestigious varietals such as Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Blanc, etc. An agronomist of national fame at the time, Visocchi visited the Paris World Exposition in 1867 and studied the treatises of Grandvionnet and Guyot. His experience was then followed up by the famous oenology school of Conegliano, which brought the most acclaimed varieties from Atina and disseminated them in Veneto, where the production of Cabernet is still predominant today. Many typical varieties were imported from France. For red grapes: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbek, Gamay, Pinot Rosso and Syrah; for white grapes: Pinot Bianco, Semeillon Gros, Semeillon Petit, Sauvignon and Russane, from which the Bordeaux wines are made. The vineyards planted out yielded excellent results, since the climate and the soil of the valley were, and still are, perfectly suited to viticulture; effectively, the intensive cultivation of the vines made it necessary to open a winery for the processing of the wine: thus the "Stabilimento Enologico Fratelli Visocchi" was founded in 1868. At the height of its splendour, in the year 1868, the "Visocchi" winery transformed no less than 4,600 quintals of grapes into wine. In 1940 the Engineer Guglielmo Visocchi obtained a Decree recognising this production the status of typical wine. Unfortunately, however, the company did not manage to survive the crisis triggered by the destruction of numerous vineyards caused by bombardments during the Second World War, annihilating the efforts of nearly a hundred years of work and study. Despite this, the valley's passion for wine-making has always been deep-rooted and the generosity of our soil has done the rest. |
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