Most companies and brands are strongly linked to their territory of origin. However, there are very few producers whose name is linked not only to the region of origin, but also on a wider scale to the identity of a country and what it conjures up.
It is history that sanctioned this role and Fazi Battaglia belongs to that limited group of brands that immediately conjures up Italian-made products and our way of being and living that has made us famous all over the world.
Fazi Battaglia was created in 1949 by the union of two families, Fazi and Battaglia, in a small cellar in the town of Cupramontana. However, it was the Angelini family, and particularly Francesco Angelini, founder of the pharmaceutical industry and mayor of Ancona, who turned this company into a historic Italian wine brand a few years later.
We owe to Angelini the unmistakeable amphora-shaped bottle, inspired by ancient Etruscan containers: a competition was announced in 1953 and won by the architect Antonio Maiocchi. They were looking for a bottle that harked back to the ancients, but with a unique shape that would make his still little-known Verdicchio immediately recognisable.
The result was the curvy amphora (which was rechristened “the Sofia Loren” in America), a bottle linked not just to the image of the winery, but also to a grape variety and a whole territory.
This came about thanks to his courage and insight, which can be summed up by two basic and very innovative decisions for the time: to invest in improving vineyard quality (at a time when most of Italian vinegrowing was a far cry from the culture of quality winemaking) and at the same time to strongly believe in a single grape variety, Verdicchio.
These two choices were ahead of the times and made Fazi Battaglia a symbol of the promotion of both the Marche production territory and one of Italy’s great native grape varieties.
Today, the Angelini family has returned to Fazi Battaglia, not only to pursue the road towards quality and innovation they began in the 1950s, but also to take on once more the role of great interpreter of the authentic identity of Italian winemaking.
This openly-declared responsibility is consistent with the production philosophy of Bertani Domains, owned by the Angelini group, which includes some of the best exponents of national winemaking (Bertani, Puiatti, Val di Suga, Trerose, San Leonino). All of these wineries focus on respect for territorial suitability and promote the identity of native varieties, with transparency and precise production.
This is how the renewal project starting in the vineyard began, which included promoting the distinctive features of certain clones and manual harvest of certain selections.
The historic Castelplanio wineries have been completely renovated, while retaining the external appearance of the original architecture. In the cellar, new smaller tanks will enable us to separate batches of Verdicchio in order to further enhance differences in soil, clonal selection and vineyard exposure. All this is done with efficiency and the continuous studies that the winery carries out on this variety.
There are brands that are inextricably linked to the history and image of a nation.
For over 70 years, the name Fazi Battaglia has not only evoked quality wines, but also that Italian style and our way of being and living that has made us popular all over the world. And if Italian products still have some meaning today, this is also due to companies like Fazi Battaglia, where tradition is never separate from creativity and the courage to dare and innovate.
With 130 hectares of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, Fazi Battaglia represents the history and tradition of Marche wine all over the world. The historic amphora-shaped bottle, created just after the Second World War, has become a symbol for Verdicchio and Italian wine. This is why the winery integrates well with the mission of the Bertani Domains group through strong brand identity, integrity and transparency, research and innovation, exploring new production methods while always remaining anchored in tradition.
This is Fazi Battaglia’s undertaking, together with promoting the Marche territory and its great variety: Verdicchio.