The first news of the origins of the ancient farm dates back to 1793. The splendid hunting estate was brought as a dowry by the noble Adelina Ruggeri De' Capobianchi to her illustrious husband Raffaele Castorani . The fame of the famous surgeon, for years a lecturer at the Sorbonne in Paris and inventor of the first cataract surgery technique, invested the same estate, which since then bears his name: Villa Castorani .
Subsequently, the ownership of the Podere passed to another illustrious professor, Antonio Casulli. Of Sardinian origin, Casulli was a professor of International Law at the University of Naples and later at that of Tokyo, where he won the personal esteem of Emperor Hiroito. This was the most fortunate period for the farm born around the villa, with an expansion of over two hundred hectares of cultivated land. After Casulli's disappearance in the 1960s, the property was divided and decline began: the villa ended up in abandonment and it seemed that the ancient viticulture traditions of the past had been lost.
The first news of the origins of the ancient farm dates back to 1793. The splendid hunting estate was brought as a dowry by the noble Adelina Ruggeri De' Capobianchi to her illustrious husband Raffaele Castorani . The fame of the famous surgeon, for years a professor at the Sorbonne in Paris and inventor of the first cataract surgery technique, invested the same estate, which has since borne his name: Villa Castorani .
Subsequently, the ownership of the Podere passed to another illustrious professor, Antonio Casulli. Of Sardinian origin, Casulli was a professor of International Law at the University of Naples and later at that of Tokyo, where he won the personal esteem of Emperor Hiroito. This was the most fortunate period for the farm born around the villa, with an expansion of over two hundred hectares of cultivated land. After Casulli's disappearance in the 1960s, the property was divided and decline began: the villa ended up in abandonment and it seemed that the ancient viticulture traditions of the past had been lost.
This was up until a few years ago, when the threads of the ancient story were reconnected thanks to the tenacious will of a group of friends, the current members of the Castorani company. Each member personally takes care of the various stages of wine making: from the loving cultivation of the grapes to the careful harvest, from the production of the wine to its promotion and marketing. Combining the passion for good wine with the desire to create a commercial campaign dedicated to quality production, the company operates in full respect of the ancient peasant values that have animated these countryside for centuries, in the wake of an ancient history of attachment to generous land of Abruzzo.
After years of passionate work, Castorani 's selection of wines is the clear expression of a territory dedicated to the production of superb quality grapes, transformed with great passion into wine using traditional techniques. Our bottles tell the story of the hills at an altitude of 350 meters in the municipality of Alanno, in the Province of Pescara where the vineyards, nestled between the Majella National Park and the nearby Adriatic coast, enjoy excellent exposure to the sun and nocturnal winds, and temperature variations between day and night which give the grapes unique and precious characteristics.
Today, as in the past, everything revolves around the marvelous residence that dominates the company, extending over about thirty hectares and immersed in a luxuriant and uncontaminated countryside. The cultivated vines are mainly "Montepulciano d'Abruzzo", while the white berried grapes are of the "Trebbiano d'Abruzzo", "Malvasia", "Cococciola", "Pecorino" and "Passerina" varieties; a small area is left for the cultivation of experimental varieties.
The average age of the vineyards is over thirty years old and the entire estate is cultivated with organic farming methods, without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. In particular, the vineyards are protected with biological control methods and fed with natural fertilisers.