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On the islands of the Venetian Lagoon, there are some ancient vineyards.
One is on Santa Cristina: in the VII century, the Falier family built a church – where the body of Saint Cristina was brought from Constantinople in 1325 – and a monastery for the Benedictine nuns. The latter lived on this island until 1340, then retired to Murano, taking the relics of the saint with them. Later on, the nuns were ordered to return to the island, where they remained until 1452.

At the end of the 1700s, the island became the property of the Donà family, who had it intensively cultivated – such activity went on until 1900, managed by several following owners. In 1930 and 1970, it was not permanently inhabited, although the cultivation never stopped.
In 1972, a privately-funded recovery of the island was started, and access to the public was forbidden. In 1986, the island was purchased by S.CRISTINA S.r.l., part of the Swarovski family which still owns it.
Today, the crops are totally organic: the 42 available acres are cultivated with vegetables and fruit trees such as apricots, plums, pears, peaches, cherries, figs and apple trees, while 7.4 acres are reserved to the free-standing vineyard. Since 2000, the latter has been leased to Daniele Piccinin, the owner of Le Carline in Pramaggiore, and a true grape expert. The vineyard includes cabernet, merlot and chardonnay grapevines; among the white and red wines produced in Le Carline winery, there’s ancient Ammiana, a red variety made with Merlot and Cabernet grapes, typical of the Venetian lagoon.

Today, the vineyard is managed by Gianluca Bisol, Executive director of the Bisol winery.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)