now a (new) museum celebrates it

The city of Marsala is preparing to inaugurate the Wine Museumwhich will be located in the ancient Palazzo Fici, in the heart of the historic centre, where the municipal wine shop has been operating for years.

On the occasion of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Marsala wine, the Museum will be named after John Woodhousethe English merchant who invented the first Italian DOC, launching it on the world market.

It is a cultural site that the mayorMassimo Grillopresented in recent days at Vinitaly, an ideal and natural, national and international event, as well as a multimedia and sensorial container where the past and future of the winemaking tradition meet.

In Verona the mayor wanted to thank the Sicilian Region for having financed the museum project with PO FESR funds and also for its willingness to support the trip for promotional activities and, with a view to networking with other regional museum centres, he highlighted that the Administration intends to develop a territorial marketing system with the culture of wine as the underlying theme.

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In this sense, Mayor Grillo hoped for the fundamental collaboration with the Marsala Wine Protection Consortium and the Strada del Vino, chaired respectively by Dr. Benedetto Renda and by the notary Salvatore Lombardo. The Wine Museum will allow the city to experience and offer tourists, visitors and wine lovers a sensorial journey through history and wine culture.

The exciting project, designed to celebrate the history and art of wine production in Sicily, and in Marsala, will allow an engaging sensory experience that blends history, culture and taste.

«Not a Museum that speaks to the past – says Mayor Grillo – but which opens up to the future: the knowledge of Marsala and its history to get to know the territory and its food and wine excellences in depth.

Marsala has an entrepreneurial fabric capable of innovating starting from its roots, as the English merchant John Woodhouse did about 250 years ago, who managed to transform the wine produced for centuries in the area, the perpetuum, into one of the best known and most appreciated wines in the world .

Precisely to celebrate this ability of the territory to renew itself by looking at tradition, we have decided to name the first Marsala wine museum after John Woodhouse, on May 12th.”

In the historic center, in one of the most beautiful historic buildings in the city, Palazzo Fici (18th century), the Wine Museum is located right at the entrance to the city, near one of its famous doors, Porta Nuova, which overlooks at the Archaeological Park and the Mediterranean. A Museum which, therefore, acts as the first step to get to know Marsala and which welcomes visitors in an elegant and modern environment, designed to immerse them in the fascinating world of wine.

Through a combination of interactive displays and multimedia installations, visitors will be taken on a journey through the region’s centuries of winemaking tradition. The museumIn perspective, it will develop a territorial marketing system that will have its underlying theme in wine culture and will offer an engaging narrative of the territory through thematic itineraries that will excite the visitor, arousing olfactory and intellectual curiosity.

It is no coincidence that it contains some teaching rooms, as well as a tasting room that can be used by companies, on whose contribution – in terms of skills – the Administration is counting on to keep alive the fascinating storytelling that Marsala expresses.

In addition to the permanent exhibitions, the Wine Museum will regularly host special events, guided tastings and training courses to deepen the knowledge and appreciation of Marsala wine.

Visitors will have the opportunity to taste a selection of the region’s best wines, guided by experts who will share knowledge and passion for wine. For this reason, the connection with the municipal wine shop is fundamental, which is located in the same building, and which guides the visitor to the knowledge of the ‘local’ wine excellences by connecting them with the cellars that dot the area.

A Museum open to the future, in short, as demonstrated by a room dedicated to the circular and sustainable economy, with Marsala as a protagonist in reuse also in the glass sector, symbolized by a recycled bottle containing organic wine. The Marsala Wine Museum will not only be a place of entertainment and discovery, but also an important cultural center that will promote the valorization and conservation of the regional wine heritage.

Through its educational and cultural programming, it is committed to preserving Marsala’s winemaking traditions and promoting its identity as a major wine tourism destination.

Its opening in Marsala represents an important addition to the Sicilian cultural landscape and will offer visitors a unique opportunity to explore Libya’s rich history and wine culture. «Whether you are a wine enthusiast or simply curious to discover the wonders of Marsala – adds the mayor – our Museum promises to delight and inspire its visitors with an unforgettable experience».

The Marsala terroir was truly the protagonist at Vinitaly also with a talk show in the meeting room of the Sicilian Region where, in addition to the mayor, there were the president and vice-president of the Marsala Doc Wine Protection Consortium – Benedetto Renda and Roberto Magnisi – the councilor of Wine RouteStefano Caruso, and the Master of Wine, Pietro Russo.

After the illustration of the secrets and adaptability of Marsala wine – followed by the tasting of a Vergine and a Superiore – the soon-to-be-inaugurated Museum was presented, which will also have a room dedicated to Marisa Leo, “woman of wine” victim of feminicide.

The long-awaited event will find a city ready with many development projects underway and which aims to promote the territory from a dual aspect: the educational one, with the University of Palermo which restarts the Viticulture and Oenology Course in Marsala as part of a broader educational offer, and that of the circular economy, symbolized precisely by the recycled bottle containing organic wine.