THE SAGRANTINO MUSEUM IS BORN IN MONTEFALCO

The San Francesco Museum Complex in Montefalco, among the most beautiful villages in Umbria, is embellished with a new immersive section. After careful architectural recovery and installation work, the Sagrantino Museum will be inaugurated on 20 April at 11.30 am, a space dedicated to the history of Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG in the presence of the President of the Umbria Region Donatella Tesei, the Mayor of Montefalco Luigi Titta and of the Councilor for Tourism Daniela Settimi, of the President of the Montefalco Wine Protection Consortium Paolo Bartoloni and of the Director of Maggioli Cultura e Turismo Mauro Villa.
The museum is told in an engaging journey that starts from the ancient Franciscan cellars up to the present day and becomes a gateway to discovering the area. Few wines in Umbria are able to represent the concept of terroir like Montefalco Sagrantino, a native variety of the area. Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin (DOCG), it can be produced exclusively in the hilly area of Montefalco and partly in the municipalities of Bevagna, Castel Ritaldi, Giano dell'Umbria and Gualdo Cattaneo. The Museum strengthens the identity relationship of this vine with the territory of "La Strada del Sagrantino" and becomes a deeply representative experience to give added value to the promotional activity for the entire socio-economic system of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco.

The Sagrantino Museum is the result of a successful synergy between public and private: it is promoted by the Municipality of Montefalco with the support of the Umbria Region and the collaboration of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco and La Strada del Sagrantino; the expansion works were carried out thanks to the POR FESR 2007-2013, Activity 2.2.2. and PAR FSC 2007-2013. Action 3.5.2°. Financial redefinition Regional program referred to in the D.G.R. n.126/2010, n.848/2011 and n.35/2012, the works management is by the architect Bruno Gori, the project by the architect Michele Giuseppe Onali, the staging of Tractis by Stefano Mosconi and the contents by Maggioli Culture and Tourism.

“The Sagrantino Museum - explains the Councilor for Tourism Daniela Settimi - was a project in which the municipal administration worked in a careful and prudent manner to return to the San Francesco Museum Complex a space dedicated to Sagrantino capable of illustrating its long history. An emotional story made up of testimonies of the territory, evocative images and videos that will immerse the visitor in the engaging atmosphere of the history of our Sagrantino, the undisputed king of the territory. It was a great team effort that involved the technical office of the Municipality of Montefalco, the manager Maggioli Cultura e Turismo, with in particular the manager of the Serena Marianelli Museum, the architect Gori, the Strada del Sagrantino, the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco and the Association “Study and research of Umbrian popular traditions Marco Gambacurta”.

The visit to the Sagrantino Museum is a visual and sensorial experience. Key themes of the new museum are: grape variety, wine, territory, tradition, culture. The visit starts from the ancient cellars of the Friars Minor Conventual of Montefalco, which came to light in the former Monumental Complex of San Francesco during some restoration works in 2006, where tools and materials from the private collection of the Association "Study and research of Umbrian Popular Traditions Marco Gambacurta”. It continues with the discovery of this historic wine-growing tradition among the vineyards and small villages of the area, already magnificently told by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1452 in his frescoes which illuminate the apse of the church of San Francesco, today a rare jewel of a Renaissance and true pictorial cycle historical document on the agricultural landscape and the city of Montefalco. The itinerary displays materials from the 18th and 19th centuries related to the processing of grapes and production in the cellar, as well as documents and illustrative videos. Not just Sagrantino, though. Montefalco Rosso DOC, Montefalco Grechetto DOC and Trebbiano Spoletino DOC Montefalco are also born in these lands, which today is one of the most requested glasses on the national wine scene. They are wines that remain in the heart, because they contain love, dedication, intelligence and stubbornness.
In the museum, a tactile landscape comes to life, never the same, which over the centuries has served as the backdrop to the paintings of Benozzo Gozzoli, Perugino and Pinturicchio. It is a handful of kilometers overflowing with beauty, to be discovered step by step. The rhythm of contemporary life does not change the values of these places: man still works with respect in the geometric design of crops, woods and hills. The vineyards set on the hills, from which everything starts for the creation of the great wines of the area, make the landscape unique and frame historic villages of rare charm: Montefalco, Bevagna, Gualdo Cattaneo, Castel Ritaldi and Giano dell'Umbria. They seem to be the perfect synthesis between man and nature, capable like few others of blending and blending into the environment that welcomes them. The Sagrantino Museum, therefore, combines business, culture and territory, to "taste" the most authentic nature of the Montefalco area.

MONTEFALCO SAGRANTINO DOCG
A symbolic wine of Montefalco and the surrounding hills, it is the essence of these lands, of those who work them and of their most ancient traditions. Sagrantino is a robust and imposing wine. A DOCG product since 1992, it is obtained only with the grapes of the native vine of the same name, from which Sagrantino Montefalco Passito DOCG is also created. It has extraordinary intensity, complexity and longevity. It needs time to mature in the cellar and age in the bottle, so as to express its unique character to the fullest and be excellent. His strength is all in waiting. As per the DOCG regulations, Sagrantino can only be enjoyed after aging for 37 months.
Sagrantino grapes impart very particular flavors, aromas and characters to the wine. What makes this variety unique, however, is not only its composition but also the area in which it is grown, capable of making it ripen slowly and withstanding dry climatic conditions. This is a very small production area, with land that slopes gently along hilly profiles overlooked by ancient medieval villages. Regardless of the interpreters, what emerges in the glass is a common trait and an innate attitude, of Montefalco and the surrounding lands, to welcome the vineyard and make it express itself at its best. Sagrantino lends itself very well to accompanying roasts and cured meats. Sagrantino Passito is perfect with typical traditional desserts: blackberry jam tarts, rocciata, torciglione and tozzetti. Also excellent with mature cheeses delighted with honey.

THE ANCIENT FRANCISCAN CELLARS
The ancient cellars of the friars found a place in the basement of the church of San Francesco in Montefalco, the historical and cultural heart of the city: three rooms housed monumental pressing beam and screw presses for pressing the grapes. The tanks for pressing the grapes and collecting the musts are perfectly preserved. The three rooms display work tools (presses, wine cupboards, copper boilers for "cooked wine", etc.) and some objects for processing grapes and wine production such as racking racks, bellows, funnels, bottle stoppers, coming from the private collection of the Association "Study and research of Umbrian popular traditions Marco Gambacurta".
In this first room two tanks are preserved, one intended for collecting the grapes to be pressed, the other for housing the pressing beam press, as evidenced by the niche where the beam was anchored. Both tanks are connected via a channel to two other sunken tanks, for the collection of musts.

For information: tel. 0742 379598 - museomontefalco@gmail.com - www.museomontefalco.it TESTO_NEWS