SOUTHERN ITALY FOR WINE LOVERS

Italy’s southern regions have varied cultures but are united by their passion for wine and hospitality. From seaside villas with vineyards to winery-owned hotels amid ancient caves, Carla Capalbo shares her top wine destinations in the south

- Carla Capalbo

Any lover of Italian wine who also loves to travel will have undoubtedly visited Tuscany and, hopefully, Piedmont in their search for wonderful places to stay on wine estates. Far fewer have explored the fantastic regions of Italy’s south, below Rome. I’m passionate about these southern regions. To me, they express the most quintessentially Mediterranean aspects of Italian culture – not only for their sun and sea, but also for the rich layers of culture that have been left there by thousands of years of occupation, from the Greeks and Byzantines to the Arabs and Bourbons. Pick anyone in my selection of fabulous places to visit, each with a link to wine, and you will leave seduced by the food, wine and hospitality of the Italian meridione.

Sergio Mottura, La Tana dell’Istrice

CIVITELLA D’AGLIANO, LAZIO

Sergio Mottura’s winery is about 90 minutes’ drive south of Rome, at Civitella d’Agliano, in the beautiful post-volcanic landscape that characterises so much of central Italy. The estate’s headquarters are in a handsome villa in the heart of the medieval village, a short distance from its organic vineyards featuring the white Grechetto and red Montepulciano d’Abruzzo varieties, among others.