May 15, 2025

A vineyard in the city

Everything you don't know about Florence's first modern urban vineyard

Did you know that there is a modern urban vineyard in Florence?

Comprising just a few rows of vines until yesterday, Vigna Michelangelo, Florence's first modern urban vineyard, has renewed its vine stock by planting 700 new plants. The land, facing north-east, is managed by the Fittipaldi women's farm in Bolgheri, chaired by Maria Fittipaldi Menarini who, with her four daughters Carlotta, Giulia, Serena and Valentina, has launched into this project with conviction and enthusiasm (we have already told you about it HERE).

“This vineyard also represents my childhood,” Maria recalls, ”when in early September, upon returning from vacation, I loved to pick grapes and even some bunches for the table". The passion and experience gained in 20 years of creating and managing their farm in Bolgheri convinced her to revive the old vineyard at home. “Somehow,” Maria continues, ”I wanted to give a sign and a sense of continuity to this house, which was particularly beloved by my father Mario. It has been just a year since we planted the rooted cuttings, and today it is really great excitement for me and my daughters to see each rootstock already transformed into a vine with the first leaves and especially the first inflorescences. This vine tells us about the life that goes on.”

Meanwhile, Vigna Michelangelo is already part of the Urban Vineyards Association chaired by Italian Nicola Purrello with its urban vineyard in Catania at the foot of Mount Etna. An Association that spans 10 countries on 4 Continents, with a total of 21 urban vineyards: from Venice to Turin, from Paris to Barcelona, from London to Los Angeles, from Brasilia to Melbourne.

How the project was born

The vineyard is seen as an element capable of recomposing the rural, historical and landscape heritage typical of an urban community still far from industrialisation. A project capable of enhancing biodiversity and contributing to urban sustainability. The project was launched on 29 September 2021, then presented to the press on 22 April 2022, and envisaged the complete reconversion of the planting with the insertion of vines to be grown using the alberello system, compatible with the slope of the land, in symbiosis with the olive trees already in production. The varieties were chosen with historical care from among the most traditional Tuscan varieties, including those at risk of extinction because they are not very profitable, but of very high quality.

The technical aspect is being overseen by some of Tuscany's top professionals such as agronomist Stefano Bartolomei and oenologist Emiliano Falsini. “The vineyard we went to make,” says Stefano Bartolomei, ”is a garden vineyard and will be perfectly integrated with the surrounding environment to keep the characteristics of the landscape unaltered. “As for the wine to come, I envision a wine with an ancient flavor that is rooted in Tuscan tradition but with an eye toward the future in a modern key,” predicts Emiliano Falsini. The varietal and terroir component will recall a flavor that identifies classic Tuscany (Sangiovese base with other native varieties) but where we will try to have a modern and contemporary breath based on freshness, drinkability, elegance: a complex but never complicated wine capable of speaking a traditional, contemporary and current language.”

The Michelangelo Vineyard is home to 700 vines divided among five native Tuscan varieties. Sangiovese, with 300 vines, is the protagonist, flanked by 150 vines of Canaiolo, used to give elegance and lightness. This is followed by 100 vines of Foglia Tonda, which brings structure and longevity, and another 100 of Pugnitello, a variety with a compact and promising bunch. The picture is closed by Colorino del Val d'Arno, present with 50 vines, known for the intense color of its skins and the striking autumn foliage.

As we said, the sapling form was chosen for planting, the oldest known form of training, already practiced by the Greeks and Romans, but also the most qualitative and expensive: it allows us to control the arboreal development of the plant very well and keep it limited in favor of better cluster growth. In practice, we do not have the usual rows with iron wires, but each vine is protected and rests on a small wooden trellis. The vines of the Michelangelo Vineyard, in short, will be cared for and pampered affectionately to make an unusual wine from them.

What will the future hold for the Michelangelo Vineyard?

The vines will not bear their first fruit suitable for winemaking until two years from now, reaching the pinnacle of quality much later. Wine requires patience, but in the meantime, the date is for the 2027 vintage with the production of the first wine barrel with entirely Michelangelesque vigor. “About 700 bottles will be made from that cask,” Maria concludes, ”to be sold on the international market through auctions with charitable purposes of social support. The purpose of the vineyard, however, is not only the wine, but the relationship that is created between man, earth and air, a relationship that resizes the sterility of concrete and asphalt with the search for mutual respect.” Said Andy Warhol, “I believe that having the earth and not ruining it is the most beautiful form of art one can desire.” If a great wine is also born from this land, the work of art is completed.