Winery of the Abbey of Lake Viverone

Walking, prayer, new people and places, and food and wine constitute the four cardinal points of any Pilgrim Experience. So it is appropriate to finish this series of articles on our on Pilgrimage in the Via Francigena this year with a report on a winery, located on the site of what was for centuries a Cella (a cell) a small Benedictine monastery overlooking Lake Viverone.

We had white wine at the winery

at the Cella (a "cell" or mini

ex-Benedictine Monastery)

with our plate of risotto.

 

"Procul Hostes, Ab Hostis" was carved in stone above the doorway of the entrance to an 12th century ex-Benedictan Monastery, la Cella di San Michele, on a hilltop overlooking Lago Viverone. It is a play on words: "Welcome to the Hospitality, free from Hostility".

Mist covers Lago Viverone

 

For Christians in general, and for Catholics in particular, the Eucharist is an essential part of our belief in Christ. Jesus, knowing that His End was close, decided to leave his presence forever, and he chose Bread and Wine. So wine making has always been something special to the Monastic life.

When we arrived to the town of Viverone,

we realized that the local people
understand that that they live on a 

Pilgrims' trail when we saw

this pedestrian sign

 

To understand the wines of Viverone, and even to understand Val D'Aosta, it isn't enough to go back to the 12th Century, it isn't even enough to go back to the times of the Christ and the Roman Empire. We have to go back thousands of years, tens of thousand of years: the foundation of the wine industry is what the Italians call "la morenica", the moraine.

The vegetation and ecosystem of Lago

Viverone is quite exotic for Piedmont,

with a temperate climate that alloys

   a verdant landscape that includes

abundant palm trees

 

The Alps (the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps) covered a much more extensive area during the Ice Age than today. These glaciers ruled Val d'Aosta and Piedmont for milleniums. The glaciers left the moraine as they passed: an accumulation of debris, crushed rock, stone, boulders and a find sand called glacial flour.

 The owner of the vineyard gave

us a personal tour to a group

of businessmen from several

countries, sponsored by the

Chiorino Group, from nearby

Biella, Italy.

 

From the moraine, the vines extract potassium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and transfer them to the grapes. In this land, besides the streams and the rivers, there are important underground streams taking the water thawed out from the Alps every spring throughout the land to the south.

The sap running out of the vine

stems is the first sign in the

vineyard that Spring is close.

 

The grape vines near Lake Viverone grow 3 or 4 meters above the ground, while roots of the vines search underground up to 15 meters for moisture in the underground streams, wells as well as in the aquifers.  

 

 

In mid-March, not only the dormant vines

 but the trees as well come back to life,

 such as this cherry tree in full bloom.

 

The minerals of the Moraine give the Erbaluce White Wine their special character.

 

 Doorway of the ancient Cella

with the sign in Latin "Procul

Hostes ab Hostis"

 

Every year, 3% of the vines die, and new vines of Erbaluce need to be planted.

 

Rolling hills of the vineyard climbing up

from Lago Viverone.

 

Traditionally, the vine training system has followed the tradition used since the time of the Romans of building a “pergola”, but this makes the grape collection more labor-intensive.

The rows of the traditional pergolas in

the vineyard.

Now the tendency is to use the Guyot technique.

 

 

Estela and Alex enjoying a

beautiful day in the vineyard

overlooking Lago Viverone.

 

Here near the lake, the yearly grape production is between 80 and 110 quintals per hectare.  

 

Abundant conifers side by side the

vineyards at the Lago Viverone.

 

The prestige of Cella Grande di San Michele are white wines, particularly the Erbaluce White Sparkling wines. The first step is the picking of the grapes: it must be done as early as possible in the morning. Every precaution must be made to avoid "mistreating" the grapes, of "non violentare le grappole" (a common expressing used in the Italian wine industry) during this critical stage. 

 

Once the grapes are squeezed, the juice

 is put into these stainless steel vats.

These "grappole" or freshly-picked grape clusters must kept in a cool and shady place, until they are squeezed.

Alexander and Estela at Cella

Grande with its iconic Romanic

period bell tower in the

background

The first historical record of Cella was in Eugene the III^rd ‘s Papal Bull, May 18^th, 1151:(“… ecclesiam Sancti Michaelis de Velverono cum pertinentijs suis” , as the Pope made it clear that this Cell was subordinate to the Abbey of Saint January: “Cella de veverono subest abbati Sancti Januarii” The Benedictine What we have remaining from that period however is only the Romanic Bell Tower, a symbol of the Lake Community.

The apse of the Chapel at Cella di

San Michele on Lago Viverone

The small chorus of the Chapel at

Cella Grande.

The coat of arms of the former

owners of Cella di San Michele

A few pews still remain in the chapel

 which isused in present times

for weekend weddings.

 

The baroque altarpiece of the

Chapel at Cella di San Michele.

The mosaics in the apse are faint

memories from another period

of time.

One of the interpreters for this

 international group of visiting 

businessmen, an important

executive in an important

industrial company in nearby

Biella. She volunteered to help

explain the history of Cella

the operation of a modern

Italian vineyard. She, like

many of her coworkers, are a

tribute to the modern woman

of Piedmont: cultured,

dedicated, professional,

trilingual, warm and

friendly.

The stone floor tiles have been restored

 several times, but follow the original

style of the 16th Century Monastery.

Even during the 20th Century, this

chapel livedanother exciting chapter

 in its life. The German troops used

it as an officers quarters during

World War II, not aware that the

partisan troops were hiding their

weapons right under their noses,

or more exactly, in a secret

compartment under this chapel

window.

Behind this wall, the World War II

Partigiani hid their rifles from

the German Troops.

Here we have the revered statue

of the Madonna of Oropa.

During the invasion of Napoleon's

troops at the beginning of the 19th

Century, monasteries were

secularized and even desecrated.

Fearful for their patron Madonna

the local Catholics of Viverone

painted the dress of the Our Lady

with the colors of the French

Flag. Astute. The French

become devoted to the Virgin

of Oropa.

The chapel window bears the

symbol of the grapes of Cella

 

The Benedictines ceded their administration to a different religious order in the 16^th Century, and what little still remains of the monastic structures in Cella di San Michele come from this period, particularly its small, but beautiful chapel.

 Part of the fermentation of the Cella

Grande wine is in the stainless steel

kegs. The second part of the

fermentation is inside the bottles.

The proprietor explains the fermentation

process in the bottles.

The bottles must remain in a

dark cool cellar.

And remain in a horizontal position.

 

At a certain point, sugar is added, to create

 the sparkling quality of the wine. But then

 the bottles must be turned upside down,

 so that all the undesirable impurities go

 to the neck of the bottle.

Similar to what is done in the

Champagne process, the necks

of the bottles are frozen.

Then the bottles are uncorked,

the frozen content removed.

Cella di San Michele is no longer a monastery, no longer ora et labora, just labora. But in the Cella, a tradition continues, and gives life to a community, and a delicious refreshment for passing pilgrims along the Via Francigena.

Our visit to Lago Viverone was

 on the last day on our trip to Italy

March 17th, coinciding with my

saint's day, Saint Patrick. I

enjoined this delicious cake

on that occasion.

 

It has been a great pleasure to discover the Via Francigena this past March for Estela and for me. It has been even a greater pleasure to write down these memories and share them with you.

The Cella Winery offered us a

special wine to accompany our

desert. The desert wine was

darker and sweeter than their

normal white sparkling wine.

Our pleasure will become our satisfaction is what we have described to you motivates you to visit the Via Francigena for yourselves. An if not the Via Francigena, any other pilgrimage that suits you.

Just do it. Your soul deserves a pilgrimage. Take your soul out for a walk!