FRANCESCO GRIGNANO
In 1850, Francesco Grignano started his activity by building a small establishment at the end of Viale Vittorio Veneto avenue. In 1888, he moved to Capo Boeo and built larger facilities that remained in operation until 1929.
The winery was built following similar criteria to those used by the British: long warehouses with pointed arches, around a large open-roofed entrance hall, a building with offices, and the keeper’s house.
From the grapes grown on his land in Perino, Favara, and Masseria Vecchia, he produced excellent “Marsala” wines, including: “Marsala Excelsior”, virgin, aged in oak barrels for 20 years; “Marsala Vergine Genuino”; “Marsala Garibaldi”; and “Marsala Vecchio Superiore”.
The Grignano winery received multiple awards in Italy and abroad, including: the Grand Prix at the Paris Expo (1908); the Honour Plaque at the London International Exhibition (1909); an Honour at the International Exhibition in Buenos Aries, the Grand Honour Cup at the Work and Industry Exposition in Rome (1908).
The business continued successfully with his three grandchildren, who conquered new markets and established new companies, including “Grignano & Tumbarello”, “Fratelli Tumbarello” and “Sorelle Spanò”. “Grignano & Tumbarello” was an Italian-German company based in Frankfurt. Its business consisted in exporting and supplying Italian wines, especially “Marsala” wines, which received an award at the Amsterdam Expo (1902).
SALVATORE AMODEO
Salvatore Amodeo, Garibaldi supporter and wine entrepreneur, was born in Trapani on 13 July 1825. After Garibaldi’s epic deeds, he moved to Marsala and in 1860 started the “Salvatore Amodeo” wine business. In 1870, after buying an estate in the Favorita area, he started building his wine production facilities and when his son Giuseppe was born (1871) he changed the company name to “Salvatore Amodeo & Figlio”.
He based his production on quality, if anything because he had to compete with the “three giants on the other side” (Woodhouse, Ingham and Florio).
The company’s production peaked between 1910 and 1920, when his son Giuseppe decided to devote his managerial skills solely to the company and to “those large houses, old, glorious houses that held high… the good name and fame of the Marsala wine…”
Among all his wines, the most prestigious was the “Lilibetano Maximun 1830”, which was made using wine dating back to 1830, aged in Slavonian oak barrels. The label read “Raggio di Sole imbottigliato” (Ray of Sunshine in a Bottle).
In the early 1960s, Nanni Longhi, the last heir to the Amodeo family estate, closed down the business and moved away. Today, the facilities are not in operation and have become part of a tourist hotel complex.