Wine and the sea: the name Lighea in literature Lighea is the bewitching mermaid featured in a short story Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote after The Leopard "Lighea",
also known as The Professor and the Mermaid is a dual story: that of an elderly professor's meeting with a young woman journalist and of the professor's encounter with a mermaid named Lighea.

Memories of the colors, odors and atmosphere of their "eternal Sicily" create spiritual and psychological affinities between the two men. And the Sicily described in 1957 can still be found intact in many parts of the island.
The Lighea story culminates in a recollection of the passionate, amorous encounter between the professor and the mermaid.
A marvelous, unforgettable experience to which Donnafugata dedicates this white wine and its label.

Pantelleria and its Mediterranean shrub

The character of Lighea, Sicilian white from Zibibbo grapes In "Lighea" the professor remembers "the smile, the scent, the innumerable harmonics" of the mermaid's voice.
Can a white wine have the smile, the scent, the voice of a mermaid?

The smile is its colour: lively and luminous, full of green-gold glints.
The scent is its aroma, from Zibibbo grapes grown on the island of Pantelleria, which entice you with their floral, mineral and salty notes.

The voice is the wine's structure: harmonious, pleasantly fresh, sapid and enveloping, with lengthy aromatic persistence. Lighea. Pure poetry to enjoy at sunset on a terrace, with canapés of caper paste or dried tuna roe.

Pantelleria sunset inspired the color of the sky in the label;
Author sketch;
The Pantelleria sea inspired the color of the sea in the author sketch

The story behind the Lighea label The illustration on the Lighea label shows only part of a face. This is a version totally unique in mermaid iconography. Looking at it you are almost hypnotized by Lighea's glance, by her penetrating "great green eyes".
The lovely tales tied to this mythological creature form the background for a fascinating wine emblematic of its territory: Pantelleria, a volcanic island lying between Sicily and Africa.

"It wasn't easy" - says Gabriella Rallo - "to retain the mystery hidden in the mermaid's glance and to capture the nuances of sunset and the colors of Pantelleria's sea.
It's a label that symbolizes the freshness and sunny character of this wine"