CARLO MARTINEZ
Carlo Martinez, born in Palermo, dissatisfied with how much he earned working for the “Florio Family”, returned to Palermo with his wife and, encouraged by Ignazio Florio, decided to open a wine farm in Marsala. As a sign of the strong friendship with Ignazio Florio, he decided to give his second child Domenico the middlename Florio, a name that was given also to other of his descendants.
In 1866, with his brother Francesco, he founded “C. & F. F.lli Martinez & C.”, based in Via Salemi.
A few years later, to capitalise on his experience as a trade agent, Carlo founded a company that offered “bank services, discounts, advances, brokerage, commissions, purchase and sale services, intermediary services, dispute assistance, information, banker’s acceptances, and credit collection”, a business that opened many doors and gave him the opportunity to meet many people. Between 1905 and 1906, due to differences of opinion, he decided to separate from his brother and moved to the facilities in Via Mazara where he set up a winery know as “Villa Araba” and founded “F.lli Martinez” and the brands “Carlo Martinez – Florio Martinez”. Between 1912 and 1915, he opened a wine storehouse in Milan to be closer to the market in northern Italy and ensure faster deliveries. In 1955, having acquired the warehouses of T. Oneto Spanò, located almost opposite “Villa Araba”, he moved to the new refurbished and modernised premises.
Currently, the company is a family-run business that has achieved good results in terms of production, sales, and especially wine quality, using its own century-old yeasts as well as yeasts purchased from the Genna family, which are even older.
In addition to selling its wines on the Italian market, it exports to many European countries and the USA. Its production includes all types of Marsala, from “Vergine Soleras Stravecchio” to “Superiore Dolce Riserva”.
These are some of the many awards it has received: Grand Prix at the Expo in Nice “Gran Vins Fins of Marsala” (1893); “Grand Diploma of Honour in Bordeaux” (1894); “Golden Hercules” Food Oscar (1982).