Rocca of Entella

Wine and territory: the name Anthilia and its history Anthìlia: a place, a name, a face. The first wine Donnafugata created, it is a loving tribute to the territory from which it came. Anthilia was the name the Romans gave to the ancient city the Elymians built on the Rocca di Entella, in the heart of western Sicily and the Mediterranean.

Due to its strategic position, the city was often contested in wars for dominion over this part of Sicily. Anthìlia was Elymian, Greek, Roman and finally Arab when it was destroyed by Federico II's troops in 1246.

In 2000 Donnafugata sponsored the excavations to which Pisa University conducted on the Rocca di Entella, now part of the Contessa Entellina community.

Ancient coin from Elymians

The character of Anthilia, Sicilian white

It was the Elymians who began to cultivate vines below the Rocca di Entella, making a wine that the Romans loved and traded. As shown on the coins found from that period, bearing the effigy of a bunch of grapes.

In the 2008 vintage the oldest indigenous grapes, Ansonica and Catarratto, were blended with other varieties best suited to the particular features of the various vineyard areas.

Today Anthilia is a complex white wine, rich in personality, with a great many admirers around the world.

First label version;
Sketch of the author;
Anthilia and the sketch of the author

The story behind the Anthilia label

The artistic label that replaced the classic series in blue and gold depicts a woman's face: blond hair blowing in the wind, eyes closed. Who is she? Is Anthilia perhaps the spirit of this land? No clue is given, so the face remains as mysterious and fleeting as Elymian civilization.

In the label's illustration we find the utmost respect for the original version. Extremely faithful colors, those of the nature of the place, and a fabulous job done by the printer in almost palpably rendering the wood on which it had been painted.