Excelsior, the partisan airfield

Nonno Giacomo, the man who decided to undertake the adventure of winemaking in the 1980s, witnessed an important page in the history of our country in 1944.

A partisan airfield was created on a piece of land owned by the family, where rice used to be grown. The ground was prepared with hoes, spades and oxen. The first flight took place in ’44. The Allies came down just a stone’s throw from the place where the cellar is today, and other flights followed one another to bring the wounded to safety and supply aid to the troops. The airfield was destroyed by the Nazis a few months after the inauguration. They had discovered it during a raid and ploughed the surface to make it unusable.

The tenacity of those who live in this land prompted the locals to roll up their sleeves and put that landing strip in the middle of nature back together again. And they succeeded. Because those who grow up here know exactly what a challenge is, how hard the earth can be, and that willpower is one of the essential ingredients to success. In the space of just a few months, the runway was ready to welcome allied aircraft again.

That strip of land is right outside the gate of our winery. You just have to cross the road to see it at your feet. If you come to Vesime to visit it, or to visit the museum dedicated to it, drop in and see us!