Village Green shakes hands with one of Italy’s most important wine brands, Donnafugata.
In fact, the turf company has created a 3,300-square-meter lawn inside the Contessa Entellina estate, headquarters of one of Italy’s best-known sector companies. Two weeks of works, distributed in five different planting moments, within a garden designed by Gabriella Anca Rallo herself, founder of the company together with her husband Giacomo Rallo, and a pioneer of the sector in Sicily.

The Contessa Entellina garden

It is a place that is a key part of Donnafugata’s heritage, which has its historic cellars in Marsala, other locations-beyond the one in Contessa Entellina-at Randazzo (on Mount Etna), at Vittoria in the Ragusa area and Pantelleria famous for its passito and moscato wines. The Contessa Entellina estate represents the company’s largest area planted with vines and olive trees. Here, however, there are not only 330 hectares of vineyards, but also a structure that is the family villa, a winemaking cellar and a garden where prestigious events and manifestations are organized.

The perfect lawn for important events

At the estate, to name a few, tastings, wine tourism, hospitality, as well as large-scale happenings are organized. One example? Goblets of Stars. While the traditional evening of San Lorenzo, where wine is sipped from sunset onward, is a well-established tradition throughout Italy, in Sicily it historically has a special value. And the event organized by Donnafugata in this type of review is one of the flagships of the entire national panorama, one of the most unmissable occasions. And it is precisely here that the lawn of Village Green, which will be the backdrop against which the event will be held, returns current. A great calling card, given also that the festival this year returns to normal after Covid. More than 1,000 winelovers are expected to attend, including tasting, art, music and sunrise harvest of Chardonnay. All will be hosted on a soft and elegant turf provided by Village Green Authorized Producer “Tecnoprato” of Dr. Simone Rau.

There is not only a question of aesthetics.

There is also another issue, now inescapable in the industry debate with the general one: the environment.
Village Green lawns notoriously have a water demand that is about 40 percent lower than cool season species. “The issue of drought is central throughout Italy and Sicily in particular,” explains Giuseppe Milano, agronomist at Donnafugata, “Today we are distributing the water stored in artificial reservoirs during the winter period. Water resources are scarce, so being able to economize on them is no small plus.“
During a summit held a few days ago in the region, it emerged how the issue of water for agriculture arises forcefully, and requires that we do not lower our guard on the issue of supplies and consumption. In the case of the farm, the issue has a double significance, since “the turf will be in consociation with an olive grove. This is a Mediterranean plant, with special characteristics, which does not have great needs for water. In this key having grass with the same characteristics is central.”