Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti, art historian, intellectual and co-founder with her husband Giorgio Lungarotti of one of Italy’s most prestigious wineries, passed away today at the age of 97.
A figure of rare elegance and competence, Maria Grazie Lungarotti has been able to intertwine culture and business in a pioneering way, making the Lungarotti name synonymous with excellence and Umbrian identity around the world.
A refined scholar, author of essays and tireless promoter of quality wine tourism, Maria Grazia Lungarotti made a decisive contribution to transforming Torgiano into a symbol of hospitality and wine culture, anticipating by decades the very concept of “narrated territory.”
After her husband’s death in 1999, Maria Grazia picked up and relaunched his legacy with an entirely personal vision, based on the idea that wine was not only an agricultural product, but a language of Mediterranean civilization. From this intuition were born two unique institutions on the international scene: the MUVIT – Museo del Vino di Torgiano (1983) and, later, the MOO – Museo dell’Olio e dell’Olivo (2000). Both today are an integral part of the Lungarotti Foundation, of which she was president and cultural soul until recent years.
Her passing leaves a deep void not only in the Umbrian community, but throughout the Italian wine world, which always recognized in her a clear, authoritative and passionate voice.
To the family, and in particular to daughters Chiara and Teresa, goes the affectionate embrace of the entire editorial staff of DoctorWine.
1 comment
I never met her, but met one of daughters in Montréal in the early 1990s.
What a great tasting that was.
Vigna Monticchio, among the favorites of mine.