Three municipalities, three estates with farm holiday facilities and three events, for a Christmas get-away-from-it-all break in the area of the Brescia DOCG
Already fed up with that endless succession of dinners with friends, interminable bingo sessions and Christmas movie marathons dictated by the family and TV programming? After the Italian Christmas comedy movies, such as ‘Christmas in Miami’ and ‘Christmas in South Africa’, it’s time for Christmas in Franciacorta. A short itinerary through three wine estates with farm holiday facilities, the perfect antidote to all that mandatory cheer in the company of a glass of wine, with friends and family, or all alone.
The first stage on this Christmas tour is Ome, a quiet village in Franciacorta’s north-east, surrounded by forests, vineyards and olive groves and washed by the Gandovere and Martignago streams. This rugged landscape contributes to suffusing the atmosphere with mystery, accentuated by narrow country roads shaped more by the natural contours of the land than any more rational town planning considerations, as if resisting the pressures of human development. The time-stood-still atmosphere pervading the village also suffuses its more iconic locations, such as its 16th century Madonna dell’Avello sanctuary – frescoed with over one hundred and sixty holy figures – and Borgo del Maglio, home to a still-functioning,15th-century hydraulic forge used for artisan work.
Right here in Via Maglio, La Fiorita is a wine estate with around fourteen hectares of Chardonnay and Pinot Nero vineyards in the municipalities of Ome, Rodengo Saiano, Passirano and Paderno, whose average production is eight thousand bottles per hectare. Its wine cellars cover 200 square metres, with a ground floor tasked with bringing in the grapes and the winemaking, disgorging and labelling processes and a below-ground floor set aside for ageing on yeasts. At weekends La Fiorita welcomes in tourists with guided tours and three types of Franciacorta tastings combined with local specialities.
It also has six independent rooms for overnight stays and breakfast. From Friday evening to Sunday lunch the restaurant hosts groups of all sizes in its three rooms, offering menus based on local recipes and specialities, from casoncelli in a butter sauce to oil-cooked beef with polenta.
Since 2007 the estate also has a children’s farm offering educational experiences to children and young people, designed to stimulate their nature observation skills via direct contact with flowers, trees and animals.
If you’re looking for a fully Christmas atmosphere in the town a Christmas market is held on 15th of December, from 9 am to 6 pm, with over one hundred stalls accompanied by songs and ‘sound readings’ in conjunction with Ome’s Accademia Musicale as a backdrop to this Grinch-resistant day.
A few steps from Ome lies Monticelli Brusati, a picturesque village nestled at the foothills of the Brescia Pre-Alps, framed by gentle hills covered in vineyards and meadows. Its name, first recorded in 1385 as Monticelli Brusatorum, refers to the feudal family of the Brusati and the unique landscape that characterizes it. The area is rich in springs, including Calchera, fed by Mount Madonna della Rosa, and Fontana, which emerges from fractures in the local limestone rocks.
Right in the heart of the Madonna della Rosa hill stands Villa Franciacorta, an ancient medieval village built around a 16th-century cellar. The estate also includes the agriturismo Villa Gradoni Charme & Nature, managed by Roberta Bianchi, daughter of the founder Alessandro, and the restaurant “éla Osteria in Villa.” This enchanting place is the result of a careful restoration that began in 1960, preserving the historic buildings and transforming the village into a symbol of elegance and timeless tradition. For New Year’s Eve, Villa Franciacorta offers an exclusive experience: an overnight stay in the charming village and a traditional feast, expertly prepared by chef Andrea Marenzi at the village restaurant.
Our itinerary then continues in Cazzago San Martino, an elongated village with an unusual history and two souls: its industrial side and its more authentically Franciacorta part featuring a sequence of walled gardens, vineyards, woods and castles. This variety is primarily a result of the village’s history as the Cazzago San Martino municipality was set up in the Fascist era on town planning rationalisation grounds but effectively melded settlements with very different histories – each with its own parish church, festivals and patron saint (strangely never St Martin, despite the village being called after him) – into one. Despite being reduced to non-independent hamlets nearly a century ago, the former municipalities of Bornato and Calino remain separate entities in many ways, including as regards their local traditions and even sometimes their vocabulary.
The Priore farm was founded in the hamlet of Calino in 1904 by Angelo Mingotti to grow vines and farm meat calves, dairy cows, pigs and poultry. Its Macelleria Fattorie Priore butchers was set up in 1999 for direct meat sales to consumers, followed by Agriturismo Le Fattorie, a farm holiday facility designed to complete the production cycle in 2007. Then Agriturismo Corte Priore was set up in 2011 for events and banquets. The firm is now owned by the third generation of the Mingotti family, Bruno and Alessandro, who are still working to follow in the footsteps of the firm set up by their grandfather.
Visiting Carlo Battista Castellini’s 28th solo exhibition requires you to travel to Bornato hamlet. Castellini, a carpenter native to the village, combines a passion for craftsmanship with a love of travel and uses nativity scenes as an original way of exploring new cultures. You can admire his extraordinary collection – now over one thousand nativity scenes from around a hundred and thirty nations from all over the world – from 14 December to 6 January.
The last stage on this tour is Corte Franca, in the centre of the Franciacorta moraine basin. There are four distinct settlements within this – Timoline, Nigoline, Colombaro and Borgonato – which were fused into a single entity in 1928 by Vittorio Emanuele III. The name conjures up the area’s history, as the four former municipalities were originally Lombard courts which subsequently became monastic estates exempt from taxes and thus essentially free trade – franca – areas.
The Le Quattro Terre wine estate works in this area, farming vineyards in four different Franciacorta microzones, each with their own specific vocations translating into wine labels with strong identities shown to visitors on two different wine estate visits. The estate’s expertly restored farmhouse is its heart and the site of a farm holiday restaurant with views over the vineyards. Its cuisine encompasses both land- and lake-based specialities, preserving local ingredients without forgetting about experimentation.
And if you can’t resist Christmas lights and stalls you’ll find just what you’re looking for in Piazza Franciacorta in Timoline di Corte Franca, which hosts a traditional Christmas village until 6 January.
responsibly