Villa Simone

The founding years

Villa Simone was established in 1982. In the early 1980s, founder Piero Costantini acquired vineyards in Monte Porzio Catone that had belonged to Cardinal Pallotta. His objective was to demonstrate that Frascati could compete on quality rather than rely on the denomination's established international name.

The first major intervention was the replanting of the vineyards. Piero gave greater prominence to Malvasia del Lazio, a less productive variety considered more suitable for quality production, at the expense of the more productive Malvasia di Candia and Trebbiano then prevalent in the area. The new vines were trained on vertical trellises and pruned using short systems—Guyot and spur-pruned cordon—to reduce yields substantially.

The winery and technical modernisation

A new winery was completed in 1986. Built into the side of a hill, it incorporated temperature management, inert gases and other equipment considered advanced at the time. Modernisation subsequently extended across the vinification cycle, with particular emphasis on cold technology. The underground barrel room was equipped with more than 100 French-oak barriques, while temperature- and atmosphere-controlled stainless-steel tanks, pneumatic presses and an in-house isobaric bottling line completed the production facilities.

Lorenzo Costantini and the present estate

Ownership later passed to Piero's grandson, Lorenzo Costantini, an oenologist and vineyard-planting specialist. His work centres on Lazio varieties and on the relationship between the volcanic soils of the Vulcano Laziale and Malvasia del Lazio, also called Malvasia Puntinata. The estate's longer-term varietal objective is a Frascati containing 80% Malvasia del Lazio.

The historical land of Vigneto Falconieri

The land now occupied by Vigneto Falconieri has a history independent of Villa Simone's 1982 foundation. It once formed part of Villa Rufina, later known as Villa Falconieri. The villa was built for Monsignor Alessandro Rufini, Bishop of Melfi, in the mid-16th century over part of a Roman villa. Pope Paul III Farnese ordered its enlargement in 1546. Financial problems forced the Rufini family to sell it in 1563, after which it passed among several noble families before Orazio Falconieri acquired it in 1628. The Falconieri family retained it until 1879 and undertook extensive architectural and artistic work.

Cardinal Alessandro Falconieri recovered full possession in 1718 of vineyards previously granted in emphyteusis by his brother Lelio. He developed the property as an autonomous agricultural complex with stables, barns, an olive press and a tinello for winemaking. A radical reorganisation of the gardens and adjoining land began in 1733, including the planting of trees, fruit trees and vines. An 1859 print preserved in the Falconieri Carpegna archive depicts a vineyard beside the villa.

After 1879, the villa briefly belonged to Elisabetta Aldobrandini Lancellotti and housed Trappist monks from the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. Baron Ernst Mendelssohn-Bartholdy purchased it in May 1907 and later donated it to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Following the First World War, the Italian state confiscated the property. It served cultural institutions and ministries from 1925, was occupied by the German command under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring in 1941, and lost its right wing during the bombing of Frascati on 8 September 1943. Restoration began in 1959; since 2016 the villa has housed the Accademia Vivarium Novum.

The associated vineyard disappeared during the early 20th century. An aerial photograph from 1962 shows an olive grove in its place. The severe frost of 1985 destroyed much of that grove, and by the time the land was offered at auction in 1998 it was heavily overgrown and abandoned.

Acquisition and the urban-vineyard project

Piero Costantini entered the auction process despite the land's condition. On 14 February 2008, the Velletri court formally assigned him the property adjoining Villa Falconieri. The acquisition began a prolonged series of legal, archaeological and practical obstacles. In 2009, the Comune di Frascati expropriated part of the holding for the Via Consalvi car park, removing the property's practical access. Construction exposed remains of an ancient Roman road, and an archaeological restriction was imposed across the land.

In 2010 it emerged that a water reservoir serving Frascati had been constructed on the acquired land during the 1960s without permits. Development charges were requested from Piero, the Piano di Utilizzazione Agronomica was denied, and his initial plan to establish an agricultural holding there became unworkable. The municipality proposed exchanging the parcel for municipal land at Vermicino near Piero's other vineyards, but the exchange proved impracticable. During the resulting delay, the abandoned site accumulated refuse and became shelter for an increasing number of unhoused people. Some waste was removed in summer 2014 by agreement with the municipality.

In 2014 the municipality definitively abandoned the proposed exchange. Because the property boundary lies only about 400 metres in a straight line from Frascati's Piazza San Pietro, a compromise emerged: the land would become an urban vineyard. Lorenzo Costantini, already involved in negotiations and experienced in planting vineyards, took charge of the project.

Permissions and recovery of the olive grove

The remaining olive trees were protected, so their unproductive condition had to be demonstrated before removal. A preliminary opinion was requested from the Parco dei Castelli Romani on 6 February 2015. An application accompanied by Dr Ponzo's report was sent to the municipality on 13 March; a supplement followed on 21 May. A municipal assessment dated 22 May also found the grove unproductive and beyond recovery. Municipal authorisation arrived on 28 May, subject to the park's approval. The application to the park was made on 26 June, followed by an inspection on 28 August, a request for additions on 24 September and delivery of further technical reports and the vineyard-rehabilitation plan on 30 October. The park issued clearance on 3 December 2015. Conditions prohibited earthmoving and required the recovery of as many olive trees as possible.

A municipal permit for a new vehicular entrance was granted on 19 January 2016. The access was built in May, and relocation of the olive trees began in July. Many trees had died from frost, rot, abandonment or fires; 86 could be moved elsewhere on the property and 80 became part of the restored olive grove. By December 2016 the land had been cleared. A portable mill reduced the resulting biomass to material suitable for composting and returning to the soil.

Archaeology, geology and planting

The prohibition on earthmoving forced a redesign. Of an initially planned 8-hectare parcel, 5.7 hectares were cleared; the olive grove moved to the upper section, while educational and experimental areas were placed below. Deep ripping was selected because it cuts vertically to as much as 1 metre without mixing the soil horizons.

Work began on 13 March 2017 under archaeological supervision. At noon, near Villa Parisi, the ripper struck an unmapped water pipe only 40 centimetres below the surface. Water flooded the property and flowed down Via Consalvi. Firefighters, municipal police, Carabinieri and Civil Protection intervened; Acea stopped the flow after roughly three hours and repaired the pipe overnight. Streets were cleaned and water service restored to neighbouring areas over the next two days, after which the pipeline towards Vermicino was mapped.

Resumed cultivation work revealed three Roman paving stones and then a second Roman road. The nearly intact route was exposed at four points, catalogued and mapped. Three sections were re-covered. The fourth was also covered because permanent security and supervision were impracticable, but its strip was retained as grass to preserve the remains and allow the possibility of future access.

The works also exposed an additional lava flow and established that the approximately 5-hectare vineyard zone crosses four volcanic macro-areas: brown tuff, light and friable yellow tuff, volcanic mudflow or lahar, and near-surface basalt. Agricultural preparation, including ploughing, fertilisation and soil refinement, proceeded alongside the archaeological investigation.

Planting began on 20 April 2017 and was completed at the end of July, about 20 days behind the original schedule. The principal 4.5-hectare block was planted at 2.5 × 0.8 metres, equivalent to 5,000 vines per hectare, with 97% Malvasia del Lazio and 3% drawn from the educational collection. The vineyard also received demonstrations of historical Castelli Romani training systems and an experimental collection combining local varieties, clones and rootstocks.

In 2019 Villa Simone applied to Regione Lazio for recognition of the historical toponym. Recognition was granted, allowing wines from the parcel to bear the name Vigneto Falconieri. The first bottling came from the 2019 vintage.

The estate follows a low-environmental-impact vineyard programme. Organic fertilisers and soil cultivation are preferred, while plant-protection treatments—principally copper and sulphur—are applied only when there is a demonstrated need. Water and energy consumption and pesticide use are reduced through equipment and technical controls.

The standard estate vineyards use vertical trellising at an average density of 4,500 vines per hectare. Winter pruning combines Guyot and spur-pruned cordon. Canopy work includes shoot thinning, leaf removal and, when required, cluster thinning. Although the applicable production rules permit 140 quintals per hectare, Villa Simone limits its target yield to no more than 90 quintals per hectare.

At Vigneto Falconieri, deep ripping was used during preparation to cut the soil vertically to as much as 1 metre without mixing its horizons. Clearing biomass was milled for compost, 86 surviving olive trees were relocated within the property, and 80 were incorporated into a new 0.5-hectare olive grove. Archaeological supervision accompanied preparation, and the vineyard layout preserves the route of a buried Roman road.

The winery was built into a hillside in 1986. Its position and equipment support grape processing and storage through physical controls, particularly temperature and inert gases. Stainless-steel tanks provide controlled temperature and atmosphere.

Pneumatic presses operate at a maximum pressure of 0.8 bar, preserving the integrity of the skins and the quality of the must. Clear musts ferment under temperature control. After vinification, wines remain on their lees for at least three months.

An underground barrel room excavated into the hill holds more than 100 French-oak barriques. The winery also has its own isobaric bottling line with a stated capacity of 2,000 bottles per hour, allowing the production cycle to be completed on site.