About us
Tenuta di Fessina was born in 2007 from a project by Silvia Maestrelli. Pioneer and woman producer on the Volcano. The estate is located in the oenological heart of the North East slope of Mt. Etna, in the hamlet of Rovittello, in the municipality of Castiglione di Sicilia, and consists of seven hectares of bush vines vineyard of Nerello Mascalese, almost all ungrafted and with an average age of about eighty years. The soil derives from an alluvial pyroclastic residue, which is characterized by finesse and geological complexity, pumice, powder and volcanic sand are giving wines of intense depth, ethereal and feminine essence. At the center of the vineyard, there is a real treasure chest: an eighteenth-century millstone in lava stone, with the ancient "chianca" - press for pressing the grapes - still intact. The vineyards, worked manually and organically, express and tell a path of care and respect for a historic terroir. As well as the structure, protected between two ancient lava flows, which after a renovation based on essentiality and memory offers six rooms for accomodation, that are integrated within the village, the historic lava stone barrel cellar and the Palmento, creating a path of simplicity between details of modern design, mazes of ancient majolica tiels and raw lava stone, combined with food pairing tasting itineraries based on the search for local and slow ingredients, where each label blends with a different recipe. Fessina today is based on care and detail of the experience, which in a single word can be translated as Etna conviviality.
Our winery
Tenuta di Fessina organizes tourist, food-and-wine and educational activities based on the customer’s needs and seasonal availability of products. The ideal stop after a hike through Mount Etna’s craters, valleys and lava caves – to be planned with the help of Etna National Park’s service- Tenuta di Fessina offers wine and local food tastings which are catered to your specific requests and lead you into the flavors and colors of this natural paradise, the enchanted Etna mountain. Our wine tourism philosophy is centered around promotion and use of local and seasonal products.
Based on the experience gained so far , Tenuta di Fessina plans to focus most of its future efforts on the development of wine tourism and hospitality, by promoting projects aimed at quality wine tourism. Besides optimizing the tools needed to promote local resources-cooperation with local tourist boards, construction and renovation of tourist facilities, collaboration with local human resources (in the arts, sales and services industry and teaching field)- we aim to achieve successful results for our company and the whole surrounding environment.
It is our intention to promote the Etnean area, a land unique of its kind because of the extraordinary pedoclimatic conditions that give wines of the highest quality. We wish to highlight the beauty of this wonderful land that welcomed us, this island so rich in culture and luxuriant nature, which lies between the sea and the earth.
“In the middle of lands” is not only a geographical statement. Mediterranean means “lying in the middle” of peoples, civilizations, different identities, which connect with each other. And wine serves as extraordinary ambassador by bringing different cultures together.