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I Tre Cippi

I Tre Cippi

Do you know when you instantly create those alchemies between people where everything feels spontaneous, there are no taboos in conversations and magically you are enveloped in that almost surreal atmosphere where everything seems perfect and in its place? We like to call this feeling…”bolla” (the bubble)!

It was November 24th, 2022..

when Filippo and Matteo set off from Milan in the direction of Sorano for a rendez-vous among friends, to indulge in some relaxation, good food, sports, and to cultivate the healthy friendship that had begun a few months before, thanks to a weekend on the mountain snowing.

After four hours of chatting and cruise control they found themselves at the Chiusi-Chianciano exit, music and chatter accompanying the two along the winding curves leading to the Val di Paglia and curve after curve to the ford on the Stridolone River below San Giovanni delle Contee.

To get to the area of the Città del Tufo requires real intent, the curves are many, the roads are narrow, poorly lit, and full of potholes.. Needless to say, it is possible to have encounters with wildlife, with the exception of the Marsican bear there are all … representative of excellence of course the wild boar … let’s say that a trip to South Tuscany can become a real Saharan experience!

Matteo and I have known each other and been friends for about 15 years..

spent sharing experiences, adventures and a passion for hosting tourism. We do much the same work: he operates in one of the most remote corners of Sardinia, while I work in Tuscany. Despite being a few years younger than me, we met while working on one of Sardinia’s most beautiful beaches. Both young, inexperienced, with a lot of energy and passion… from the very beginning we understood that we had so much in common and that we met at the right time to support each other in our personal and professional growth… Our passion for property management, skiing, the sea, travel and our respective territories, to which we are viscerally linked and in love, constitute a true friendship.

The friendship with Filippo

on the other hand, was born from an insight of Matteo’s. It was the winter of 2022 when, on the phone, he told me, “You have to meet Filippo, a great man who deals with finance in Milan. Let’s go skiing next weekend.” He wasn’t wrong..Filippo was one of us, too: few frills, little appearance, education and respect, no trace of greed or envy. With a great head, a bit more grown-up than us, Filippo immediately conveyed to us a sense of reliability.

In October 2022 we met in Sardinia, Cala Gonone

and stayed in one of Matteo’s beautiful houses. We spent two days “in the bubble” where, between a full-day kayak crossing, a dinner at Su Gologone and the ascent of Tavolara it was so good that we could not do anything else than confirming an appointment in Maremma, at the earliest possible time to see us all together again!

In November, they arrived at the Fortezza…

two T-bone steaks weighing a kilo each, freshly picked porcini mushrooms and a couple of bottles of local Ciliegiolo awaited us and, in no time we are back in the “bubble,” just enough time to go to sleep that here is the alarm clock and we are ready to leave with a guide for an excursion that took us from the prehistoric settlement of the lost city of Vitozza to the Etruscan Vie Cave and then ending up with our feet soaking inside the river, sweaty, tired and muddy but definitely happy!

The afternoon continues with a bit of relaxation at the Club of Terme di Saturnia: bathrobe, slippers, massage and there, in our complete unawareness, soaking in the millennial water of the spring, under a light storm, the Cippi begins to take shape!

It’s dinner time, so we decide to continue pampering ourselves: tagliolini with truffles, a steak and a bottle of wine that are worth as much as a weekend in the mountains..we leave thinking well but not very well, something went wrong but equally something had happened…We go home, we collapse without even realizing it, the next morning Matteo and Filippo will have to leave again right after lunch. I decided to show them one last thing: the Fortress Cellar….

Opening the cellar door they both stand open-mouthed, exclaiming:

“What is this stuff?” “The first Cooperative winery in the Territory,” I say, “it has been working for four centuries…” First we take a look at the large Tine then we go down into the tunnel, with head flashlights, I explain to them the function of the coopers dug in the tuff and they are fascinated: “A crazy stuff!” they both exclaim.

It’s time to leave, the Osteria Maccalè in San Giovanni delle Contee, is just in the direction of the highway (Chiusi/Chianciano)…we arrive early and find checked tablecloths, the smell of cooking and the three of the famous Cantina del Rospo talking as usual about wine…and for us to get back in the “bubble” is a moment!

Before lunch, Tommaso, takes us to the winery to taste their wines, tells us about the cantina del Rospo project, recovery, friendship, sustainability, ambition, consistency and the desire to express the authentic character of these lands. The bubble expands, once seated at the table we realize what had been missing the night before: the environment and the right cues to let us finish building our first project as friends/entrepreneurs.

Tommaso Furzi

(one of the three from the Toad winery) is an oenologist/agronomist (I will tell you more about him later), who in 2022 vinified, for the first time in red and white, grapes from my vineyards. In 2022 a 100 percent ciliegiolo that at the time of lunch is still fermenting and a recently racked macerated trebbiano, both kept in their cellar dug into the tuff of San Giovanni. From my vineyard in 2021 there was a first experiment: an ancient Rosé – white and red grapes vinified together that we will tell you about later.

At the table Matteo and Filippo:

“Why don’t we make our own wine in the Fortress cellar?”
Me: “That would be nice but we need an agricultural holding..”
Filippo: “let’s set it up, it doesn’t take a long time!”
Mastteo: “we can differentiate the environment a little and invest. 100,000 bottles and go!” (Matteo is an ever-optimist by nature)
C,M,F: “What do we call it?”
Me: “I Tre Ceffi.”
Matteo: “I Tre Cippi.”
Filippo: “I Tre Cippi.”

Thus, on January 6, 2023

the Simple Agricultural Society I Tre Cippi was born. On March 16, 2024, our first wine is bottled by the Antonio Camillo Agricultural Company: Burrasca, a 100% rosé Ciliegiolo with an untamed character by nature, rose petal color, fresh, persistent, refined. The Città del Tufo and the Maremma had never seen a Ciliegiolo Rosato made like this, from now official witness of our ideas and projects related to tradition, experimentation and innovation in the theme of wine, in Southern Tuscany, in the Città del Tufo, in the municipality of Sorano.

If you want to stay up to date

If you want to taste Burrasca, you can:

  • Purchase it here, requesting home delivery (we need: first name, last name, email, and a shipping address. No minimum order required, free shipping for orders over 12 bottles)
  • Visit us at the fortress with the discount code BURRASCA23, valid until 10/31, which offers you a 15% discount on your stay, plus a free cellar tour and Burrasca tasting for one person.

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