For more than 700 years, the Frescobaldi family has been a patron of both the arts and the vine. From Renaissance Florence—where they supported Brunelleschi and Michelangelo—to modern Tuscany, where they steward some of Italy’s most prestigious estates, the family has always seen art and wine as larger than commerce. They are culture and continuity. That ethos is today most visible in Vendemmia d’Artista, the family’s Ornellaia wine estate’s annual fusion of fine wine and contemporary art.
The project, launched in 2009, invites a renowned artist each year to interpret the character of the new vintage—literally giving the wine a visual identity. Ai Weiwei, Shirin Neshat, Tomás Saraceno, and Michelangelo Pistoletto have all left their imprint on Ornellaia’s large-format bottles, which are produced in minimal numbers.
Some of these works have become among the most coveted collectibles in the wine world. A nine-liter Salmanazar has surpassed €100,000 at auction, with proceeds funding cultural institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Whitney, and, most recently, the Guggenheim’s conservation of works for its Modern European Currents exhibition.
To the casual observer, it might look like a brilliant marketing idea. But for the Frescobaldi family, the project is simply an extension of who they have always been.
A Legacy Written in Wine and Art
To understand why an estate would hand its most celebrated wines to artists, you have to understand the family behind it.
The Frescobaldis settled in Florence in the 12th century, eventually shaping a swath of what is now the Santo Spirito quarter. Their archives—some dating back to the 1200s—record roles as poets, bankers, scholars, merchants, musicians, and politicians. In the 15th century, as Florence was igniting the Renaissance, Stoldo Frescobaldi commissioned Filippo Brunelleschi to build the Basilica di Santo Spirito.
In 1252, an earlier Lamberto Frescobaldi built a bridge over the Arno—today known as the Ponte Santa Trìnita—to connect his land to the heart of Florence. Later, the poet Dino Frescobaldi preserved the earliest cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The family financed English kings during the Crusades and supplied wine to the papacy.
Today, Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi, Marchesi Frescobaldi President since 2013, represents the 30th generation to work the land. With estates such as Tenuta CastelGiocondo in Montalcino, Attems in Collio, Tenuta Ammiraglia on the Tuscan coast, and Ornellaia in Bolgheri, the Marchesi Frescobaldi group now produces millions of bottles a year across Italy.
His leadership style is rooted in stewardship rather than preservation for its own sake. “Don’t sit on what you received, create more than what you are given,” he has said, articulating a philosophy that blends heritage with forward-looking responsibility.
“We have centuries of documents showing my ancestors commissioning and supporting artists. Art and wine were always connected for us.”
How Ornellaia Helped Shape Bolgheri
Nowhere is that dynamic more visible than at Frescobaldi’s Ornellaia Estate in Bolgheri. When Ornellaia was founded in the 1980s, Bolgheri was not yet the globally recognized appellation it is today. The estate—and its Super Tuscan peers—played a decisive role in giving Bolgheri a distinct identity, separate from the broader, more diffuse image of coastal Tuscany or Maremma. American collectors, in particular, came to understand Bolgheri through estates like Ornellaia, whose trajectory helped solidify the reputation of this Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOC) abroad.
And that influence continues. The estate’s creation of Ornellaia Bianco helped validate the idea that coastal Tuscany could produce world-class white wines, eventually contributing to the establishment and prestige of Bolgheri Bianco as a formal category. The early adoption of Petit Verdot, now an increasingly important variety both for Ornellaia and the broader appellation, reflects an openness to evolution that aligns with Lamberto’s ethos: respect the land, but allow the blend—and the region—to grow.
Vendemmia d’Artista: Interpreting a Vintage Through Art
Vendemmia d’Artista extends that philosophy into the realm of culture. Each year begins with a single word—an encapsulation of the vintage’s “character”—which is given to an artist as a creative brief to design a site-specific work of art for the estate and a set of limited-edition labels inspired by the chosen word. The 2022 vintage, for example, was defined by La Determinazione, a reference to the vines’ resilience and the winemaking team’s focus during a season marked by heat and drought.
“We had a clear vision of what we wanted to do,” Lamberto said during the release.
“‘Determination’ has a double meaning. It represents the determination of our technical team to bring home this wine, which is so expressive, and the determination of the Ornellaia vineyards. In a situation that was a bit extreme, the vines showed great resilience.”
Over the years, the project has supported art institutions globally. The through line is not just philanthropy, but access—the idea that great art, like great wine, functions best when shared.
“As a family, we have always made sense of the world through art,” said Tiziana Frescobaldi at a wine event in London. She sees continuity between the family’s role in medieval and Renaissance Florence and its role today. “One of the main reasons for creating our contemporary art initiatives was to link with our past,” she said. “The days when Florentine families were booming—the old days, when families like ours needed artists. We see it as a way of reviving this tradition.”
What emerges from Ornellaia’s annual artistic commission is something rare in the wine world: a project that is both local and global in scope. Local, because each vintage is anchored in the specificity of the Bolgheri landscape. Global, because the artworks travel far beyond Tuscany, raising funds to protect cultural heritage in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions.
The Frescobaldi Bridge Still Holds
The Frescobaldis have long described themselves as custodians of wine and art rather than entrepreneurs. They have held many roles in their long Florentine history, but—most enduringly—they have been winemakers and art patrons.
“Wine,” according to Lamberto, “is a bridge between people, between cultures, between centuries.”
And seven centuries later, the family continues to build bridges: between past and present, artist and vintner, Tuscany and the world.
ORNELLAIA 2022 LA DETERMINAZIONE
Cameroonian Artist Pascale Marthine Tayou created the 2022 labels for the Vendemmia d’Artista project. In addition to the 750 ml and large format bottle labels for auction, one “La Determinazione” artistic label is included in every case containing six 750 ml bottles of Ornellaia 2022.
The 750ml labels feature concentric circles of multicolored markings, symbolizing the energy and strength that emerge when individual elements unite into a cohesive whole.
The double magnums (3L) show the gradual emergence of a resilient plant pushing through desert soil.
The Imperial (6L) and Salmanazar (9L) bottles are encased in one-of-a-kind patchwork covers made from vibrant, repurposed fabrics to express the joy and triumph of overcoming adversity.
