The curious name of the main road that crossed the Jewish Ghetto, via dell’inferno, has no clear explanation.

It is hypothesized that it derives from the darkness of the area where the streets, once difficult to practice, are narrow with the houses leaning against each other and connected by elevated walkways. Or, from the state of constraint in which the Jews gathered there were forced to live.

It is certainly an ancient toponym, which by analogy also gave rise to the name of two alleys located between via Oberdan and via dell’Inferno: vicolo del Limbo and vicolo del Purgatorio.

Nothing to do with via Paradiso, which is instead located in an area of ​​the historic center that has been much more enjoyable since ancient times, perpendicular to via del Pratello.

At number 16 in via dell’Inferno a plaque reminds us that the synagogue of the Ghetto was located there.

The absence of traffic in the narrow streets and the careful restoration of the buildings give this area its characteristic medieval flavor. The current urban layout has remained the typical one of the ancient Ghetto. The houses are very close to each other and separated by alleys, covered balconies and bridges, small windows and many doors that overlook the streets, some of which are false entrances to distract attention from the real ones in a more hidden position.

The Jews were separated from the rest of the population in 1555, at the behest of Pope Paul IV. They were then confined to this neighborhood with guarded entrances and in which they were closed at sunset. One of the entrances is still clearly distinguishable today: the arch that leads from via del Carro onto via Zamboni.

Jews lived in the Ghetto until 1569, when they were expelled from the city. They were allowed to return in 1586. They were driven out again in 1593, and for over two hundred years organized Jewish groups could not live in Bologna. In ancient times the area was very lively due to the presence of merchants and bankers, today it is full of high quality artisan shops. Very characteristic neighborhood.

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(source: Serena Bersani, Il Giro di Bologna in 501 luoghi, Newton Compton Editore)

In 1989 Antonio Capelli and Mario Pirondini took over the 35-hectare complex on the hills of Monteveglio to give life to their "crazy" project to return to the land, embracing a slower and more environmentally friendly pace through the practice of organic farming: thus Corte d'Aibo was born.

The goal is, right from the start, to produce wines that tell a territory, but also a personal and collective story of work, passion, recovery of roots.

Roots that sink in ancient times, as evidenced by the Etruscan remains found in the area at the beginning of the twentieth century, up to the medieval documents that attest to the existence of the settlement of "Daibo" or "Aibo", from the Emilian "aibus", drinking trough, term related to the presence of water.

From tradition comes wisdom, knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of one's land, the humility of knowing how to welcome the legacy of centuries of experience in producing excellent wines in an area like that of the Bolognese Hills. Tradition alone, however, is not enough, we need to grow, improve, 'innovate', in order to create wines that are ever more lively and engaging. All without inventing anything new, but simply by finding a way to enhance the characteristics of the grape.

Because at Corte d'Aibo good wine is born in the field, in the cellar you just have to try not to waste the gifts of the earth. In this perspective, the practices of organic and biodynamic agriculture are inserted, aimed at maximizing the health and quality of the soil, in addition to the use of terracotta amphorae, an Etruscan heritage that allows the maximum enhancement of the characteristics of the grapes, without distorting them. the intrinsic aromas. Particular attention is paid to the reduction or elimination of added sulphites, substances that become inessential, even harmful, when the wine is of good quality.

Meriggio comes from Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes, manually harvested in small collection wagons. 

The vinification takes place in terracotta amphorae with variable macerations from 30 to 180 days depending on the variety.

We are in 1940, in a very cold, poor village in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. A country where nothing happens, by the way. Or rather, where nothing happened, because one morning, Maddalena, an hourly waitress, finds the body of a villager, an old emigrant who has returned from France and is called "the Frenchman", lying in the snow. And the Frenchman is not asleep, he is dead. And he is only the first one.

Marshal Benedetto Santovito, exiled from his south in this icebox in the middle of the mountains due to his lack of reverence for the fascist regime, finds himself having to investigate a chain of murders triggered by events that took place at the end of the nineteenth century. Outside his environment, the marshal will have to face the hostility of the local people and deal with a mountain mentality far away from that of his native land.

 

Francesco Guccini

A legendary singer-songwriter of more than a generation, his activity as a writer is also one of the most original and evocative experiences of the Italian literary scene of the last decade. Occasionally also an actor, author of soundtracks and comics. Until the mid-1980s he taught Italian at Dickinson College in Bologna, an off-campus school of the University of Pennsylvania. He also worked as a lecturer at the Bologna branch of Johns Hopkins University (Washington, DC, USA). His life took place between Modena, Pàvana and Bologna.

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Loriano Macchiavelli

Originally from the Bolognese Apennines, he attended the theater scene as an organizer, as an actor and, finally, as an author; some of his plays have been performed by various Italian companies. Since 1974 he has dedicated himself to the detective genre and has published numerous novels, becoming one of the best known and most widely read Italian authors.

In his stories the city of Bologna is always a supporting character, the territory where the events take place is never just a background.