Vignalta: The Winery Carved into the Volcano, Home to Gambero Rosso’s Three Glasses Wines
In Arquà, the village where Petrarch spent his final years, a winery carved into volcanic rock has been producing some of the Euganean Hills' most acclaimed wines since 1980.
Arquà Petrarca, Padova
Lucio Gomiero spent twenty years growing radicchio in California before returning to Arquà Petrarca. In 1980, he founded Vignalta with two friends. Fourteen years later, they carved their winery directly into the volcanic rock of Monte Gemola. In 1990, their Cabernet Riserva became the first wine from the Euganean Hills to receive Gambero Rosso's prestigious Three Glasses award.
Arquà is the village where Francesco Petrarch chose to spend the final years of his life, settling here in 1370 and remaining until his death in 1374. His house is still open to visitors, complete with manuscripts and the famous stuffed cat said to have been his companion. The village stands on a hillside in the Euganean Hills, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards rooted in volcanic soil—the legacy of the volcanoes that shaped these hills 35 million years ago and still give the local wines their distinctive minerality and structure.
Lucio Gomiero knew these hills well, but he had seen much of the world before returning home. For nearly twenty years, he grew radicchio in California, supplying restaurants and distributors across the West Coast. When he returned in 1980, he founded Vignalta with Paolo Guzzo and Luciano Salvagnin, driven by a clear vision: to harness the Euganean Hills' remarkable geological diversity—volcanic soils on one side, limestone marl on the other—to produce wines whose character reflected each individual vineyard. An obvious idea today, but a pioneering one at the time.
In 1994, they carved the winery directly into the volcanic rock of Monte Gemola. It was not an aesthetic choice: the rock naturally maintains a constant temperature and humidity, creating ideal conditions for ageing wine in oak barrels. Visits are by appointment, and it is one of the most unusual wine experiences in the Veneto—descending underground into cool darkness, surrounded by black volcanic stone while, above, the sun shines across the plain.
Gemola—a blend of Merlot and Cabernet from the estate's namesake vineyard—is Vignalta's flagship wine. Their 1990 Cabernet Riserva was the first wine from the Euganean Hills to receive Gambero Rosso's prestigious Three Glasses award. Alongside it, Sirio, a dry Moscato, and Alpianae, a passito dessert wine, complete a portfolio that helped put the Euganean Hills firmly on Italy's wine map.
This is an independent editorial feature.
Photo ©vignalta.it
Practical Information
Location: Arquà Petrarca, Padova
Duration: Half a Day
Estimated price: Wine tastings from €20 per person
