Donnafugata renews its cultural commitment to Normale di Pisa and finances the purchase of a drone for aerial photographs of archeological sites.The project will be presented during the ceremony conferring the Giuseppe Nenci Awards, on December 14.

Symbol of a partnership of more than 10 years between Donnafugata and Pisa University, the drone will be christened Sherazade. The label of the woman in flight seemed a perfect personification of the drone’s shell that will be surveying the ruins of Entella and the winery’s vineyards at Contessa Entellina.

The more than a decade-long relationship between Donnafugata and the Sciences of Antiquity Laboratory is being enriched with new content and new tools for archeological surveys. The Scuola Normale di Pisa, thanks to annual funding from the Sicilian winery, has decided to purchase two drones, special remote-piloted aircraft able to “revolutionize” territorial observation.

These aircrafts, equipped with a digital camera, take aerial photographs of archeological sites and complexes. A type of monitoring that will take place mainly during the growth season for vegetation in order to be able to trace buried structures not otherwise visible at the sites of Entella and Segesta.

The project will be presented during the ceremony conferring the “Giuseppe Nenci” Awards on December 14 at noon in Pisa. On this occasion will be christened one of the two drones purchased thanks to funds from Donnafugata, whose hull will bear the label of Sherazade, made from Nero d’Avola grapes grown at the Contessa Entellina estate. The “Sherazade” drone will also be used for aerial photographs of the winery’s vineyards.

The award ceremony will be held at the new headquarters of the Sciences of Antiquity Laboratory, inaugurated right on December 14 in the presence of its Director, Prof. Carmine Ampolo and José Rallo of Donnafugata. “We have always believed in Contessa Entellina territory and its valorization”, states José Rallo, “not just from the production standpoint but also from the cultural and historical. Even at a time when funds are lacking, the great archeology schools never stop investing in research, thanks partly to private funding. Using new ‘flying’ technologies can provide truly important information for reconstructing the history of the city of Entella and for getting to know more about Elymian civilization. We also hope that the ‘Sherazade’ drone bearing the image of a woman in flight on its shell can capture lovely photos of our vineyards from aloft”.

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Baldo M. Palermo [email protected] tel. 0039 0923 7242267

Laura Ellwanger [email protected] te. 0039 0923 724258