Donnafugata, Sicily is told through vineyards, art and family visions

Donnafugata embodies a family story that has changed the way of describing Sicilian wine. It all began 1983, when Giacomo Rallo, heir to a winemaking tradition spanning over 170 years, founded the company together with his wife Gabriella Fianco Rallo, a visionary woman and pioneer of quality viticulture, who had inherited some vineyards. Their progetto is not only to produce wine, but to build a cultural project capable of restoring the complexity and beauty of Sicily through landscapes, art, sustainability and a recognizable Mediterranean identity. Today the company is led by their daughter José and her brother Antonio, interpreters of a plural Sicily. José with his story made of music and wine who takes care of marketing and public relations and Antonio, with a deep connection with the terroirs and their identity, takes care of the entire production. With the entry of the young Gabriella Favara, Josè’s daughter and therefore sixth generation, the story continues to renew itself without losing its solid foundations.

The name Donnafugata – chosen by Gabriella Fianco Rallo – is rooted the novel “Il Gattopardo” and already tells it all by referring to a woman acceso the run who does not get lost, a symbol of change but also of a maintained loyalty to her origins. Among the hills of Contessa Entellina, Donnafugata has built a place where wine dialogues with art and nature. the nineties, when wine tourism was not yet a word common use, Gabriella opened the doors of the cellars to enthusiasts, transforming the visit into an experience of hospitality, music, gardens and storytelling, a choice that seemed bold at the time and which today appears as one of the family’s most far-sighted intuitions. 1994 another fundamental piece was added. From the between Gabriella and the illustrator Stefano the famous labels to life, mostly archetypal and dreamlike female figures who have revolutionized the visual language of Italian wine, not simple labels but also a story of wines Donnafugata style. 2026 this imagery finds a permanent home the Art Gallery of the Historic Cellars of Marsala, an immersive journey dedicated to ‘s work.

THE NEW ART GALLERY OF MARSALA

The real news of 2026 for the company is therefore the birth of the new Donnafugata Art Gallery the historic cellars of Marsala: a project that aims to be a true cultural programma of the company and the family. Here, for the first time, the visual universe created by Stefano finds a permanent home visible to visitors: his profoundly Mediterranean illustrations aim to represent an identity language that has accompanied Donnafugata wines for over thirty years. The Art Gallery tells the story various figurative steps the 1994 between Gabriella and , the birth of signature labels, the color revolution that changed the way of communicating wine, Sicily as a feminine, literary, symbolic imagination and the dialogue between art, wine and territory. All with the strong identity pilastro of the Rallo family, the between Giacomo and Gabriella, the development of identity, the brothers José and Antonio and the latest generations. The rooms are designed as a sensorial journey: lights, materials, sounds, colors so that each illustration becomes a fragment of history, a bridge between past and present, between myth and contemporaneity, with the possibility of physically and sentimentally immersing oneself the Art Gallery, without limiting oneself to observation aureola. For Donnafugata, this is certainly an evocative exhibition space, but one which has the value of describing wine not only as a technique and product but also as culture and narration.

FIVE FACES OF SICILY, ONE IDENTITY

Donnafugata is a journey through Sicily, a mosaic of landscapes that complement each other where each is a world, a character, a different way of telling the same progetto of ​​Mediterraneanness. Contessa Entellina, where it all began, the hills onto an agricultural landscape that seems to merge together with the family home. Here you can also find Gabriella’s Garden, a living work of art that comes from a carob tree and two olive trees and is spread over three levels: the Mediterranean level with olive tree, carob tree, lemon and prickly pear, the intermediate level with exotic plants harmony with the native ones and the lowest level with a double row of palm trees that frames the view towards the vineyards. It is a garden that tells botanical stories with the carob tree, already known the first millennium BC, the olive tree, the potted lemons that recall Versailles, the jacarandas with violet flowers, the “birds of paradise” strelitzias, the washingtonias with fan-shaped leaves. Each plant is a testimony of the world returning to Sicily. Pantelleria, the black island suspended between Sicily and Africa bears witness to heroic viticulture where Zibibbo grows as a Pantelleria tree, protected basins dug into the earth, according to a practice recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The terraces supported by dry stone walls tell of an ancient relationship with the wind and light and from this balance comes Ben Ryé, Donnafugata’s passito wine. Acceso Etna, however, the vine grows acceso volcanic soils, rich minerals, a unique climate that alternates intense light and freshness at high altitude and precisely among the districts of Randazzo, with their shades of black sand and lava stone, vertical and profound wines are born. It is a territory that Antonio Rallo feels viscerally, a place where viticulture is a continuous challenge and where each harvest is a chapter itself. Trionfo, Sicily becomes softer and sunnier because we find the red, light and draining sands that produce sottile and elegant wines almost naturally. This is the homeland of Cerasuolo che Trionfo, the only Sicilian DOCG, a wine that combines freshness and depth. Finally Marsala, with the historic cellars of Donnafugata which represents the beating heart of family memory and today also the center of a new cultural intention.

WINE TOURISM, A MODEL THAT WORKS

Wine tourism has always been one of the pillars of Donnafugata’s identity because since the 1990s the company has opened the doors of its cellars to enthusiasts, promoting authentic Sicilian hospitality and which today, with five estates, offers an experience similar to a journey across the island. Visitors can fact choose between thematic tastings, itineraries dedicated to iconic wines (One Thousand and One Nights, Ben Ryé), food-wine pairings, technical visits to the vineyard and seasonal experiences such as Sunday among the Rows. 2025 Donnafugata welcomed 29 thousand visitors, of which over 30% were foreigners from 79 countries and it should be underlined that the most significant growth is that of young wine lovers, attracted by an experience that combines wine, art, music, gardens and storytelling. The positive trend is line with the increase international tourism Sicily, increasingly capable of offering modern facilities and services up to global standards.