Discover the historic wine cellars of Marsala. We will visit the Florio and Donnafugata cellars, excellence in the production of Marsala wine and traditional, Western Sicilian wines.
The program is:
Departure from Trapani Area by car with an English speaking driver.
You will be taken to Marsala to visit the Florio Winery, a place of warm, mineral-rich soil and sea-kissed breezes where Marsala wine has been produced for nearly two centuries.
Then, you will be taken to visit the Donnafugata Winery. The Rallo family, who owns Donnafugata, has been in the wine business for over a century and the winery is known for its exceptionally wide range of wines, made with autochthon wine grape varieties such as Inzolia, Catarratto, Zibbibo and Nero d’Avola as well as international varieties like Viognier. The wine maker will meet and show you his techniques of viticulture. You will enjoy a wine tasting with light lunch at winery. On the way back to Palermo a special tour is planned along the coast from Trapani and Marsala.
This coastline is characterized by the salt-pans. These are large salt water pools divided by narrow strips of land, where for centuries salt has been produced. This route is called “la via del sale” (the Salt Road), remarkable for its many Dutch-style windmills, used to pump sea water and grind the salt. The many mounds of salt (piled up salt creating little white hills) are then covered with terracotta tiles to prevent the rain from melting them. The salt-pans were probably established by the Phoenicians who set these basins to collect the salt. Today, this thousand-year-old salt culture is still in use.