PIETRO CUDIA
As a youngster Pietro Cudia worked as a cooper in the Florio wine production plant where he learned how to make “Marsala” wine.
As many local entrepreneurs of the time, he started his business in a warehouse near the port of Marsala, in 1860, buying wine directly from vineyard owners to produce his own “Marsala” wine.
The business was taken over by his son Lorenzo and his brother-in-law Francesco Lo Presti, who bought a large piece of land in Via Mazara and around 1885 built their first wine production facilities. Growing demand for the wine, both in Italy and abroad, led to the extension of the facilities which were equipped with the latest wine-making technologies, including a very modern refrigerator.
They were the first to use the patented 14, 25, and 50-litre demijohns to meet the demand for small supplies from private buyers.
The business received numerous Diplomas of Honour and medals, including in Venice (1908) and in Milan (1909).
Unable to keep up with fierce and unfair competition, in 1968 the business closed down and sold the brand to “P. Mirabella & F.” and the premises to “Ditta A. Casano”.
GIACOMO MINEO
The company “G. Mineo Rallo” was established in 1862. The founder, Giacomo Mineo, originally from Favignana, moved to Marsala and the same year bought a warehouse near the port, restructured it, and used it as a storehouse.
As he owned three vessels, he shipped his own wine and the wine of other producers. The most common routes led to Sardinia and North Africa.
In 1910, he built his own winery, in Via Fante, and called the company “Giacomo Mineo & Figli”. The establishment was the first to install a must concentrator with a very high red brick chimney. In 1923, following Giacomo Mineo’s death, his four sons, Ignazio, Diego, Giacomo and Alfredo, extended and modernised the already large facilities, which would later be managed by Ignazio and Alfredo’s children.
Due to a difference of opinion on how to manage the business, in 1949, two of Ignazio’s children founded “Fratelli Mineo”, with premises in Via Sebastiano Lipari, which closed down in 1970 after the death of the two owners; Alfredo’s children continued to manage “Giacomo Mineo & F.”, but stopped the production in 1980 and sold the brand to “C. Pellegrino & C.”.
One of the brand’s successful Marsala wines was “Marsala Malaga”, know as Ladies’ Wine, “Vino delle Signore”.