At Home with Marchese Malaspina · Part 3 of 4

With Federico in the wine cellar beneath Palazzo Malaspina

Federico guides us down the stone stairs to the wine cellar. After the family archive, the history changes material: from paper to oak and stone.

Vaulted wine cellar with rows of wooden barrels — The vaults and barrels beneath Palazzo Malaspina.

Narrow paved alley between tall stone walls with an arch further ahead — The alley leading to the palazzo.

Gravelled courtyard with stone houses and an arcade with stone columns — The courtyard of Palazzo Malaspina.

The way there leads through a narrow alley and into the courtyard. From there a stone staircase leads down. The walls are rough, the passage narrow, and further down the vaults open over rows of wooden barrels. It is the kind of entrance that makes you lower your voice without anyone asking.

Stone staircase beneath a vaulted stone ceiling leading down to the cellar, with visitors at the bottom — The way down to the cellar.

Marchese Malaspina dates the underground cellars to the twelfth century. The winegrowing tradition is counted from 1772. The wine, in other words, moved into rooms that were already several hundred years old – a bit like inheriting a flat whose walls have more experience than the new tenants.

Among the barrels beneath the vaults

Now it becomes clear why Currado wanted us to see both the archive and the cellar. The map showed the land. Down here lies the next stage of the work: large horizontal barrels and smaller casks stacked along the passage.

Federico shows us through the rooms. Vaulted ceilings, masonry and barrels of different sizes. An older wine press stands beside two wooden vessels. He takes his time and answers questions as they come.

Old wine press beside two wooden vessels — The wine press and the wooden vessels.

According to the family's own presentation there is also a modern section with steel tanks. The old cellars are therefore not a museum but part of a business where different rooms and tools have different tasks. History is allowed to stay, but it does not get to decide everything.

A table beneath the brick vaults

Further in we come to a room with a large wooden table under the brick vaults. Bottles stand in a row in front of a colourful mural, and glasses are set out at the counter. The room is plainly built for sitting down, and none of us objected.

Vaulted room with a large wooden table, an illuminated bottle counter and a mural of a saint, Bobbio, a bridge and a dragon — The room with the wooden table and the bottles.

For Vinarkivet this context is the point. When we present Marchese Malaspina we can tell of the way through the palace, of the map in the archive and of Federico who showed us down to the barrels. The name on the label has gained people and rooms around it.

But the cellar has one more part, which has been left untouched. That is where the last article in the series goes.