Calatroni

Estate story

On November 11th, 1964, a document bearing the official seal of the municipality of Montecalvo Versiggia was placed on the desk in front of Luigi Calatroni. With a single signature, that piece of paper would forever change his life.

It was the contract transferring ownership of the Casa Bella estate from the Vecchietti family to Luigi, marking the fulfillment of a long-held dream.

Like the four generations of Calatroni before him, Luigi had spent his life cultivating Pinot Noir grapes as a mezzadro, a sharecropper who paid rent in kind by giving half of the harvest to the landowner.

For a vine-grower, grapes are far more than fruit—they are like children—and the sacrifices required by this system demanded extraordinary dedication and resilience.

After years spent working the vineyards under the sun and rain, after surviving the hardships of the Russian campaign during the Second World War and completing an arduous journey back home, Luigi—affectionately known as Vigiö d’la Cà Bela—finally became the owner of his own land in the Versa Valley.

Toward the end of his life, he proudly passed the Calatroni vineyards on to the next generation, ensuring the continuity of the family’s legacy.