Cesanese Wine Country: A Day Among the Vines, One Hour From Rome
Sixty kilometres east of Rome, in the hills above the small town of Olevano Romano, a quiet renaissance has been underway for fifteen years. The Cesanese — the indigenous red grape of southern Lazio, almost extinct in the 1980s — is being recovered by a small constellation of family producers who have, in less than a generation, brought the wine from an obscure local table-wine to a serious appellation taken seriously by the international wine press. The Cesanese del Piglio earned its DOCG in 2008 (only the second red DOCG in all of Lazio); the Cesanese di Olevano Romano received its DOC in 1973 and is the more elegant of the two. A private day in the Cesanese country, with sommelier-curated tastings at two producers and a hilltop lunch, is the most rewarding wine-day available within one hour of Rome.
The drive: A24 to Vicovaro, then south to Olevano
The drive is one hour by chauffeured car from central Rome — east on the A24, south at Vicovaro on the SS411 through the Subiaco-Olevano corridor. The road climbs into the Monti Prenestini at six hundred metres altitude; the landscape is unexpectedly Tuscan — olive terraces, oak woods, vineyards on south-facing slopes. The first cantina is reached at 11:00.
Damiano Ciolli: the traditional benchmark
The morning opens at Damiano Ciolli — the producer whom most Italian wine writers consider the most serious Cesanese house. Damiano (a sommelier turned vigneron) farms eight hectares biodynamically on the volcanic slopes of Monte Scalambra, and his two single-vineyard bottlings, the «Cirsium» (from a parcel of seventy-year-old vines) and the «Silene» (younger vines, lower altitude), are the structural benchmark for the appellation. The tasting is in the small cellar — three wines, paired with the producer’s own salumi, and a half-hour conversation with Damiano about biodynamic viticulture on volcanic soils. The visit is ninety minutes.
The hilltop lunch: Genazzano
From Olevano the chauffeur drives twenty minutes to Genazzano — a medieval hill town crowned by the 12th-century Castello Colonna and the Renaissance Nymphaeum attributed to Bramante. The lunch is at the Ristorante La Cucina di Casa Pestelli, in the village’s medieval main square — Roman trattoria classics (tonnarelli cacio e pepe, abbacchio Roman lamb, artichokes alla giudia) paired with a vertical of three Cesanese vintages. The lunch takes ninety minutes.
Coletti Conti: the modern reference
The afternoon visit is to Coletti Conti — the producer based at Anagni who has built, in the last fifteen years, the most consistently rated Cesanese cellar in the appellation. Antonio Coletti Conti is a microbiologist by training; the cellar uses the most current temperature-controlled vinification, and the wines (the «Romanico» and the «Hernicus») are the modern complement to the traditional Ciolli. The tasting includes a vertical of four vintages of «Hernicus», a walk through the steel-and-oak cellar, and a visit to the 1,000-square-metre vineyard adjoining the cellar. The visit is two hours.
How we propose the day
The Cesanese day is, in our office, the most-requested wine day in Lazio. We propose it as a one-day excursion (nine hours door to door) or as a two-day combination with the Frascati noble-villas wine day the following day — the two together cover the entire Lazio wine geography. For guests staying longer, we extend with the Tuscan Brunello day for the broader Italian context, or with the Umbrian truffle hunt the day after for a full gastronomic week.
To curate a private Cesanese wine day with sommelier-guided tastings at Damiano Ciolli and Coletti Conti, contact Olga via Telegram.
