WELCOME TO FRANCIACORTA

Franciacorta is a splendid region of Lombardy, a stone's throw from Brescia and within easy reach of the rest of Europe. Nature has over thousands of years sculpted this ancient land, creating a breathtaking and varied landscape. Yet its history has been moulded by man, who has toiled for centuries to create an impressive cultural heritage.

To discover the subtle spell of Franciacorta, one must wander through hamlets and hills: their charm will soon envelop you.

Among ancient monasteries, villages, and palaces 18th and 19th-century noble villas.

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Franciacorta's landscape is peppered with tall medieval towers that testify to its ancient defence system comprising castles and watchtowers. Only the ruins survive of some of these buildings that date from before the Middle Ages, built to protect their towns.

IL MONASTERO DI SAN PIETRO IN LAMOSA

Via Sebina – Provaglio d’Iseo

Open to the public (Town Council of Provaglio d'Iseo, tel. 030 929 1200-Friends Association, tel. 030983477)

From its location near Provaglio d'Iseo, the Monastery of San Pietro in Lamosa boasts splendid views across the Torbiere del Sebino. This area, designated a Nature Reserve in 1983, is perfect for strolling in or cycling along.

IL CONVENTO DELL’ANNUNCIATA

Via da Cemmo - Monte Orfano – Rovato

Open to the public (Servi di Maria Friars, tel. 030 772 1377)

The convent boasts a magnificent location on the eastern slopes of Mount Orfano in Rovato. In 1449 two friars belonging to the confraternity of the Servi di Maria were given some land on which to build a convent and a church which were completed in 1503. It soon became a sacred place for pilgrims, particularly on feast days of Our Lady until it was dissolved in 1772. It was only until 1963, and at the instigation of the Servi di Maria, that it once again became home to a religious community. The Annunciation by Romanino (1485-1566) is amongst the several highly valuable works of art housed in the convent. The convent has a perfectly geometric cloister; the understated simplicity of its colonnade and arcade frames a finely decorated wrought iron central well.

L’ABBAZIA OLIVETANA DI SAN NICOLA

Via Brescia, 83 – Rodengo Saiano

Open to the public (Olivetan Benedictine monks, tel. 030 610182)

One of Italy's most imposing religious buildings, the Abbey of San Nicola, was founded in the X century and was to prosper again thanks to the Olivetans who in 1446 were nominated priorates of Rodengo. The abbey, previously owned by the Italian State, was once again taken over by a religious order in 1969 and it then reverted to its original function. The late 16th century cloister with its compound pillars, the 15th century little rustic cloister, the refectory, the large gallery and its many rooms displaying masterpieces of great 16th and 17th century Brescian artists were comprehensively restored to their former glory.

It houses a book restoration laboratory and a Museum of Iron. Advance booking required.

Franciacorta had many influential aristocratic and powerful families who had property that extended beyond the city of Brescia to the entire region of Franciacorta, where they chose to build their country mansions. During the 17th century Franciacorta became an area favoured by the patrician families of Brescia and Milan who enjoyed spending their holidays there. And so still today the landscape is dotted with many of these mansions set in spectacular gardens. Most are private homes but some are open to the public.

Santa Giulia – Museum of the City

Via dei Musei, 81/b | Brescia | tel. +39 030 2977834www.bresciamusei.com

A trip through the history, art, and spirituality ofBrescia from prehistory to the present. It is unique in Europe for its location, in a monastery founded by the Lombard King Desiderius and his wife Ansa, built over the remains of pre-existing Roman houses. The Monasteryof San Salvatore, successively of Santa Giulia,possessed properties in Franciacorta, documented asfar back as 766, in the Diploma of Adelchi.The museum complex comprises the basilica of SanSalvatore, the oratory of Santa Maria in Solario, the15th century church of Santa Giulia and its Renaissancecloisters. It also offers highly-respected artexhibits.

In Franciacorta dense woods frame the rows of vines and the olive groves, parks protect areas of particular landscape and natural importance, and streams furrow the hillslopes with their tortuous courses. For those who love nature, here is a real Eden..

The Peat-Moors of Sebino - The torbiere, or peat-moors, are located on the borders ofFranciacorta, where the hills drop down to restby Lago d’Iseo. The Riserva Naturale della Regione Lombardia, set up in 1983, is a natureoasis and an official international resource,unque in all of. Visitors can explore them by means of paths and wooden walkways that are integrated into the environment.

Brescia Hills Park - Set up in 2000, the parkcovers some 4,309 hectares just outside Brescia and includes the communes of RodengoSaiano and Cellatica in Franciacorta.

The Santissima Park at Gussago - Built as amonastery by the Dominican monks in the14thcentury, on the summit of the Santissima hill, which is patterned by vineyards and terraces,the Santissima is one Franciacorta’s most panoramicspots, and the symbol of Gussago. The park offers benches in rest areas, educationalpanels, a vista point, and a bike and walking trailthat winds around it.

Park of the northern Oglio River - The park extends along the course of the Oglio, whichstarts from Lago d’Iseo and slowly wends itsway over the Lombard plain. It comprises interestingroutes in two communes in Franciacortaas well, Paratico and Capriolo. The park featuresmany activities during the year orientedtowards the environment, foods, and local traditions.

The monastic courts

The history of Franciacorta has been marked by extensive monastic foundations that possessed, even before the year 1000, vast land holdings, where they converted forest land to fields and improved it for cultivation. Among the most assiduous was the female convent of San Salvatore, later known as Santa Giulia di Brescia. Founded in 753 by the Lombard King Desiderius and his wife Ansa, its Franciacorta-area properties are documented in the Santa Giulia Polyptych, an ancient codex from the mid-9th century. But there were numerous other monastic “corti”, or monastic settlements.

The first document referring to Franciacorta property belonging to the Brescian monastery of San Salvatore, later Santa Giulia, dates to 766. Through this grant deed, Adelchi, King Desiderius’ son, donated to the monastery all of the goods that he had inherited from his grandfather Verissimo and from his uncles, Donnolo and Adelchi, which included properties in this area.

Among Guelfs and Ghibellines, Dante took refuge in Paratico

During the period of the Signorie, or local tyrants, all of Franciacorta belonged to the Guelph party, with the exception of two important towns located at its approaches, Palazzolo and Iseo, then in the hands of the Ghibellines. Dante Alighieri, wandering as an exile at that time, found refuge at the court of Lantieri family at Paratico and then at Capriolo. These were bloody times, filled with plots and armed struggles; they ended only with Pandolfo Malatesta’s assumption of power, which ushered in a sustained period of stability. This allowed a recovery of the agricultural economy, and winemaking was able to flourish again. When the Brescia area passed from dominance by the Visconti to that of Venice, Franciacorta gained in ascendency. It was in Gussago, in fact, in 1426, that the Guelph nobles laid the plot to transfer control of Brescia to Venice. This period, too, saw the construction of the first of the square, crenellated watchtowers that still today characterise the Franciacorta countryside. By the late 15th century, Franciacorta was divided into three quadre, or districts, each with its leading city, Rovato, Gussago, and, though only in part, Palazzolo.

Historians are in agreement that the first appearance of the name “Franzacurta” was in 1277, in the municipal statues of Brescia, and it referred to the area south of the Lago d’Iseo, between the Oglio and Mella rivers. Franzacurta or Franzia Curta was at that time an important wine supplier for nearby Brescia, for the villages as well in the Valcamonica and the Valtrompia, and for the cities to the south in the Po river valley.

The delimitation of today’s boundaries for Franciacorta dates back to a 1429 decree by Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice. The oldest map we have is from 1469, by an unknown cartographer, preserved in Modena’s Biblioteca Estense.

BASKET OF TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS

The traditional local foods of Franciacorta are so intertwined with the area’s culture, traditions, and rural countryside that these products serve today to effectively promote Franciacorta. Each single traditional specialty encapsulates some fascinating piece of local history. What we enjoy eating here are not only the fruits of our labours and of our creativity, but are the very self-expression of places, habits, the tools of our work. We saw to it that appropriate legislation was passed to preserve and protect the heritage of everyday culture, so that today we can be confident that we bring to our tables products that are the fruit of tradition-hallowed methods employed by true artisans, and are produced today with great care for health and hygiene. Local producers therefore selected specific traditional, locally-grown food products and established guidelines for their production, preservation and ageing.

ROVATO BEEF WITH OLIVE OIL

(serves 4)

Ingredients: 1 kg beef shoulder cut; 2.5 l. water; 2 cloves garlic; 2 salted anchovies; ½ small onion; 1 dl Sebino DOP extravirgin olive oil; 25 gr corn flour or fine breadcrumbs; a pinch of salt; 25 gr butter.

In a large saucepan make a soffrit with the butter, anchovies, garlic, and the finely-chopped onion; add the water and salt, then bring to boil. Add the meat, removing the excess pieces that come to the top during the first 5 minutes; cook on medium heat for about 2 hours. Add the oil, then the breadcrumbs bit by bit (or the corn flour mixed in a little water); cook again for 20 minutes, frequently moving the meat to prevent it from sticking. Remove meat from juices, and thicken juices if necessary. Slice the beef 4-5 cm thick and serve with cooking juice, along with polenta or a thick slice of country bread, accompanied by Franciacorta Rosé.

CLUSANE BAKED TENCH

(for 4 – recipe from the 1800s)

Ingredients: 4 tench, 300 gr. each; 300 gr. butter; 300 gr. Grana Padano cheese; 100 gr. breadcrumbs; mixed spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, black pepper); salt; Sebino DOP extravirgin olive oil; parsley; laurel leaves.

Slice open the tench lengthwise from the bottom, clean and wash. Make the filling with the cheese, breadcrumbs, spices, salt, and parsley; dry the mixture, then stuff tench. Prepare a terracotta dish with the olive oil and laurel leaves, add the fish, cover with some of the dried filling and small pieces of butter, bake at 160oC for about 2 hours. Serve with firm-textured polenta cooked in a copper pan, partnered with Franciacorta Extra Brut.

TORTA DI ROSE (Roses Cake)

(serves 4)

Ingredients:1 tbsp sugar; 1 lemon peel;150gr. milk; 1 cube beer yeast; 3 tbsp olive oil; 3 egg yolks; 350gr. flour; 1 pinch salt. For the filling: 150gr. butter; 150 gr. sugar.

In a pan put the sugar, lemon peel, milk, olive oil, yeast, and egg yolks, whisk together, while adding slowly the flour and salt. Make a smooth, soft-textured ball, then roll the dough out into a rectangular sheet.

Prepare the filling, working the sugar into the butter until the mixture is creamy, then coat the dough with it and roll the sheet into a cylinder.

Cut off 4 cm-long sections, seal the bottoms and place them in a buttered baking dish, leaving space around each one. Let rise for 1 hour.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 180°C.