GAETANO DI CARLO

I’m not going to mention what Corleone is most famous for because it’s not worth mentioning. And when you set foot in this incredible town and meet Gaetano di Carlo, and learn his family’s tale, you will soon forget about potentially the most famous movie Trilogy of all time.

Corleone is a town with incredible amounts of history that is hundreds of years old. The history of the Mafia in Corleone is a small blip on the map in comparison but unfortunately because of it this incredible history is unknown to the rest of the world.

Gaetano took me through this history over a visit in the summer of ’24 and I was truly blown away. Lets start off with geology. Somehow a mountain that was part of the dolomites (found in Alto Adige) popped up in front of Corleone millions of years ago and this “mini dolomite” dominates the landscape. I frankly had no idea of this mountain and it was truly remarkable to see. Not only this but there’s an incredible gorge, other crazy rock formations and so much different geological “stuff” going on in one little valley it’s almost incomprehensible.

Corleone is built into a valley the cozies up to this aforementioned dolomite. The countryside around it is full of archeological treasures including very early settlements that are 3000+ years old from the neolithic period. These treasures have been largely ignored, or rather not been accessible to be studied so they are just there as part of the landscape.

It’s clear that this city was settled early on and it’s stature only grew over time until the dark days of the 1900s. I take the time to give a brief history lesson because in meeting Gaetano this incredibly rich history was so important to him. It’s a story that has to be seen to believe and it’s one far far from what is depicted in film. I’m so glad I took the time to witness it first hand and hear this history from one of the area’s proudest ambassadors: Gaetano di Carlo.

Gaetano’s story is interesting in and of itself. He comes from a farming family through and through. Both his mom’s and his dads’ families had their own tiny vineyards and they made wine mostly for home consumption. Certainly they would sell some fruit as well, they grew grain, they made olive oil. They lived off of the land. Gaetano’s dad passed away when he was 5 years old so it was his uncle “Cicco” who influenced his life on and off of the farm. Gaetano proudly remembers working with his uncle in the vineyards. He remembers many of his friends from town going off to the beach for the summer where he stayed behind and worked with Cicco.

His aunt Annina was also a huge influence and she loved wine. In fact, before even setting the table for a meal she made sure there was a bottle of wine on the table. It’s a lovely history of a hardworking, farming family. Gaetano eventually got involved in wine on a commercial scale and worked managing a few larger cooperatives. That work brought him to Rome where he met his wife and lived for a few years. It was this time in Rome where he realized that he needed to give a go at starting his winery.