Antinori

A family connection dating to 1385

The historical context presented at Antinori nel Chianti Classico begins in 1385, the starting date of the Antinori family’s wine story and of a relationship with Chianti Classico that has continued across 26 generations. The new winery was conceived as an architectural and productive expression of that relationship, bringing together the family’s past, its contemporary work and its plans for the future.

Seven years of construction

The winery was completed after seven years of construction. Marchese Piero Antinori and his daughters Albiera, Allegra and Alessia established the project’s intentions and requirements. Archea Associati developed the architectural design, while Hydea handled construction and engineering.

The reddish-brown structure was designed to emphasize its connection with the earth and to respect the surrounding landscape. Local and natural materials—including terracotta, wood, Corten steel and glass—were selected for its construction. The building was embedded in the hillside so that it would remain almost invisible from outside, apart from two long horizontal openings forming its façade.

25 October 2012: inauguration

Antinori nel Chianti Classico was inaugurated on 25 October 2012. It marked the first time in 26 generations that the Antinori family had opened a new winery specifically conceived both as a production facility and as a place where wine enthusiasts could encounter the family’s winemaking philosophy directly.

The winery introduced a three-level layout connected by a large spiral staircase. Its production design enabled gravity-flow vinification and used natural conditions to maintain suitable temperatures for making and aging wine. The rooftop and terrace vineyard integrated vines directly into the architecture, while public areas, production spaces and the family’s art collection were combined within a single visitor route.

The opening also inspired a new interpretation of Villa Antinori as a Chianti Classico Riserva. Antinori Art Project was founded at the same time, extending the family’s collecting tradition into contemporary art through site-specific commissions, temporary exhibitions and seminars.

2012–2013: the first contemporary-art program

Chiara Parisi curated the Antinori Art Project program during 2012 and 2013, involving Yona Friedman, Rosa Barba and Jean-Baptiste Decavèle.

2013: Pèppoli production moves to Bargino

Beginning with the 2013 vintage, grapes for Pèppoli began to be vinified directly at Antinori nel Chianti Classico. The facility consequently became part of the production history of an established Chianti Classico label as well as the home of the newly interpreted Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva.

2014: new artistic direction

Ilaria Bonacossa became artistic director of Antinori Art Project in 2014. That year Tomás Saraceno participated with Biosphere 06, cluster of 3, installed in the vertical space of the winery’s internal staircase.

2015: Still Life Remix

The 2015 exhibition Still Life Remix explored the still-life tradition and included Giorgio Andreotta Calò’s Clessidra. The bronze sculpture reproduces and doubles a Venetian mooring post damaged by tides, creating two mirrored halves. Its hourglass-like form addresses time and transformation and connects those ideas with the role of time in wine maturation.

2016: site-specific acquisitions and commissions

In 2016 the project acquired Nicolas Party’s site-specific Giant Fruit and commissioned Jorge Peris to create Portal del Angel. Peris constructed the precarious triumphal arch through the reuse of local materials, including antique terracotta jars historically employed for storing olive oil.

2017–2018: Stefano Arienti and the Antinori lunette

In 2017 Stefano Arienti was commissioned to create a project in dialogue with Giovanni Della Robbia’s early-16th-century glazed lunette The Resurrection of Christ, originally commissioned by Nicolò di Tommaso Antinori. The work, now owned by the Brooklyn Museum, returned temporarily to Florence after approximately 500 years following a restoration supported in the United States by the Antinori family. It was exhibited at Museo Nazionale del Bargello from 9 November 2017 to 8 April 2018.

Arienti’s project comprised two complementary works: Scena Fissa was displayed beside the lunette at the Bargello, while the site-specific Altorilievo was installed at Antinori nel Chianti Classico and entered the family collection.

2022: World’s Best Vineyards

In 2022 Antinori nel Chianti Classico was ranked first by World’s Best Vineyards. The international wine-tourism ranking was decided by more than 500 wine and tourism specialists.