Ca’ dei Frati

The Ca’ dei Frati company has been renowned since 1782, as confirmed by a document that refers to “a house with a cellar located in Lugana in the Sermion district known as the place of the Friars”. In 1939, Felice Dal Cero, son of Domenico, formerly a wine grower in Montecchia di Crosara near Verona, moved to that very house in Lugana di Sirmione, immediately realising the area’s potential for vine cultivation. After thirty years working in the vineyard and the cellar, his son Pietro took part in the creation of the DOC in 1969, bottling his first wine with the label Lugana Casa dei Frati, later named Ca’ dei Frati. In 2012, Pietro Dal Cero passed away, leaving the cultural legacy to his wife Santa Rosa and children Igino, Gian Franco and Anna Maria, who run the company with the same passion and determination.

History

The cellar has a long history to boast: the original structure dating back to the mid-fifteenth century was in fact a detachment of the Discalced Carmelite friars of the order of Santa Maria de Senioribus, who had as their main headquarters a monastery about eight kilometers away, the current Rambotti Museum in Desenzano del Garda, from the place where the old winery once stood.

At that time the friars lived on the estate for essentially productive purposes since the land adequately responded to their needs: they owned a few hectares of vineyards, given to farmers in the area for sharecropping for the production of wine for the holy mass. This data is of great interest to the current estate because it testifies to the presence of vines in the local context for more than five hundred years. Only an ancient marble portal with the friars' coat of arms remains from that time in the historic room, which has now become the official trademark of the Ca' dei Frati brand.

Organisation

https://cadeifrati.it/en/contacts/