Antinori Winery

The site is surrounded by the unique hills of Chianti, covered with vineyards, half-way between Florence and Siena. A cultured and illuminated customer has made it possible to pursue, through architecture, the enhancement of the landscape and the surroundings as expression of the cultural and social valence of the place where wine is produced. The functional aspects have therefore become an essential part of a design itinerary which centres on the geo-morphological experimentation of a building understood as the most authentic expression of a desired symbiosis and merger between anthropic culture, the work of man, his work environment and the natural environment.

The physical and intellectual construction of the winery pivots on the profound and deep-rooted ties with the land, a relationship which is so intense and suffered (also in terms of economic investment) as to make the architectural image conceal itself and blend into it. The purpose of the project has therefore been to merge the building and the rural landscape; the industrial complex appears to be a part of the latter thanks to the roof, which has been turned into a plot of farmland cultivated with vines, interrupted, along the contour lines, by two horizontal cuts which let light into the interior and provide those inside the building with a view of the landscape through the imaginary construction of a diorama. The façade, to use an expression typical of buildings, therefore extends horizontally along the natural slope, paced by the rows of vines which, along with the earth, form its “roof cover”.

The openings or cuts discreetly reveal the underground interior: the office areas, organized like a belvedere above the barricade, and the areas where the wine is produced are arranged along the lower, and the bottling and storage areas along the upper. The secluded heart of the winery, where the wine matures in barrels, conveys, with its darkness and the rhythmic sequence of the terracotta vaults, the sacral dimension of a space which is hidden, not because of any desire to keep it out of sight but to guarantee the ideal thermo-hygrometric conditions for the slow maturing of the product. A reading of the architectural section of the building reveals that the altimetrical arrangement follows both the production process of the grapes which descend (as if by gravity) – from the point of arrival, to the fermentation tanks to the underground barrel vault – and that of the visitors who on the contrary ascend from the parking area to the winery and the vineyards, through the production and display areas with the press, the area where vinsanto is aged, to finally reach the restaurant and the floor hosting the auditorium, the museum, the library, the wine tasting areas and the sales outlet.

The offices, the administrative areas and executive offices, located on the upper level, are paced by a sequence of internal court illuminated by circular holes scattered across the vineyard-roof. This system also serves to provide light for the guesthouse and the caretaker’s dwelling. The materials and technologies evoke the local tradition with simplicity, coherently expressing the theme of studied naturalness, both in the use of terracotta and in the advisability of using the energy produced naturally by the earth to cool and insulate the winery, creating the ideal climatic conditions for the production of wine.

In the heart of the Chianti Classico area between Florence
and Siena, the Antinori winery is situated in the inestimable
terrain of the family vineyards, reviving history, traditions,
and colours to create a building that is both sophisticated
and contemporary, whilst representing the prestige of the
brand. On the slopes of the hills, it reproduces the form of
the vineyards with its large roofing, and circular openings
that let light and air into the hypogean areas. With its natural
materials, the building is perfectly integrated in the fairy
tale-like Tuscan landscape – corten steel and wood- adapted
with the horizontal and transparent cuts of the openingcrevice-
like glass windows, created with EBE 85 profiles in
corten steel. The production areas are underground: faced
with terracotta to exploit the conditions beneath, which are
ideal for the winemaking process whilst the offices and areas
that are open to the public are near the surface and are also
faced with special furnishing elements in corten steel using
the HT Infinities system.

The Antinori Winery is an extraordinary example of architecture which is a symbiotic with the landscape, the anthropomorphic one of the hills marked by the vine espaliers in the Chianti region, becoming one with the phases and processes of wine production. A technological and geomorphological experimentation, that suggested by Archea Associati, a connection to the land and its fruits, which takes shape through the mimesis of the project in the context, an attention to nature and uses. 

A hypogeous architecture, therefore, simple and monumental at the same time. Where materials and competences are at the service of a state-of-the-art building in terms of technology, recovering the earth’s energy, without dispersing it.

The film moves directly through the words of the protagonists, narrating the design and building of one of the most evocative projects in Italy in the first person. The film retraces the most significant design and executive phases which led to the creation of the new headquarters of the Marchesi Antinori winery, built in Bargino di San Casciano Val di Pesa, about half way between Florence and Siena.

Through the contribution of the protagonists, the motivations and conceptual reasons behind the choices made are illustrated, also describing the difficulties encountered, the choices themselves and the technological challenges.

A production place is thus born, dug inside the hill, inside which the sacredness and complexity of tradition emerge, as well as the wine heritage of an entire territory.

Watch Antinori Winery Film