The Aeolian Islands are an archipelago, in northern Sicily, constituted by seven volcanic islands. In the southernmost of these little islands, Vulcano, Paola Lantieri restarted the ancient tradition of cultivation of the "Malvasia della Lipari", a sweet wine produced by grapes withered in the sun on the "cannizzi", a flat surface composed of interwoven reeds; such method dates back to the ancient Greeks, who used to make this wine with the exact same procedures. Hesiod (VIII century BCE) quotes precisely the same technique used by us to harvest and wither our Malvasia grapes.
"(ll. 609-617) But when Orion and Sirius are come into mid-heaven, and rosy-fingered Dawn sees Archturus (30), then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring them home. Show them to the sun ten days and ten nights: then cover them over for five, and on the sixth day draw off into vessels the gifts of joyful Dionysus." (Hesiod, Works and Days, VIII century BCE)
The farm, with its five hectares, is located in the southernmost tip of Vulcano, in an area that is particularly suitable for Malvasia production: the soil is black, very loose, almost sand. Without any use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides; this wine is produced eclusively from 0ur own grapes, therefore the production is extremely small, from 5000 to 8000 bottles, which are numbered one by one.
The agricultural and production difficulties related to being on an island of just 21 square km, make this incredibly small farm a legitimate example of "heroic" agriculture.
Paola Lantieri