I really enjoy observing Antonella and Lorenzo, they scrutinize me trying to figure out if I can be a good custodian of their vision.
I ask Lorenzo, who until December was the Research Manager at the Asti Research Center for Oenology, if he knew the Maremma and Saturnia before this trip.
“I knew about Saturnia, but I did not know about the Spa. Only recently a colleague had mentioned it to me. Before the summer I left for Rome with my Moto Guzzi California 2, stopping in Maremma. Very tired, I’ve slept in Albinia. Then I’ve reached the National Headquarters of Research for Agriculture in Rome and after lunch I started again.
I was still curious about the place though: Saturnia. The dashboard of my bike displayed almost 100,000 km on my arrival, I was surprised at the coincidence. I had dinner in the square of Saturnia and I remember well how the Spa could be heard; I thought: this is my place, I want to come back. I remembered my grandfather (the father of my mother) Narciso’s origins, the Maremma, from Monticello Mount Amiata: another coincidence.
Fall runs, the wine is in the cellar. In December my friend and wine producerRiccardo Albani from Casteggio Oltrepo, whom I’ve consulted for since his first rooted cutting, calls me asking me if a person he’s met can call me. I get Antonella Manuli’s phone call shortly after, while I’m at a conference in Conegliano Veneto. Antonella quickly tells me about Fattoria La Maliosa and invites me to Saturnia. So I’m on my way to Saturnia, in Maremma. I knew I’d be back.”
Lorenzo continues telling of his forty years’ experience as a researcher in the viticulture world, with a sustainable approach ever since the beginning. Even 30 years ago, when times were very different and today’s awareness far away; since in his first publications he asserted that it was necessary to be open to innovation without forgetting the richness of the past’s experience.
In the late 70s he follows Prof. Baggiolini’s guidelines: his thoughts, almost revolutionary but rightly scientific, fascinate him, especially those regarding the responsibility of agriculture, supporting the sustainable and organic methods.
Actually in the period following the war there has been an abuse of chemicals, as if the land had become an enemy rather than a resource deserving to be respected.
Lorenzo has always declared himself open-minded and ready to gather information and to consider situations with a broad and articulated approach.
I am fascinated by so much experience and principles, I know that Lorenzo will mark new and valuable pathways for La Maliosa.
Paola Sucato aka ci_polla
