Andrea Franchetti, born in 1949, was a free spirit and an undisputed and pure talent in wine production.

He was born in New York but mostly lived in Rome; he managed throughout his life to never curb his desire to grow, discover and experiment. He was always searching for new challenges, which he faced with unstoppable enthusiasm and energy. After spending many years between America and Italy, Franchetti settled in the late 80’s in Val d’Orcia, a desolated countryside on the Tuscan-Lazio border.

An important decision that led him to fall in love with that land where he spent 25 years. Totally immersed in nature, he decided to approach the world of wine and after a period of training in Bordeaux, where his innate talent was brought to light, he produced the first vintage of Tenuta di Trinoro in 1997. What has always characterized Andrea Franchetti is achieving the impossible where no one has ever tried before. His wine company entered for its great merit in the annals of Italian wine culture, soon followed by another company: in 2000 Franchetti is enchanted by the magnificence of the vineyards, more than 1000 meters high, that surround the slopes of the majestic mount Etna. He does not hesitate even for a moment, starting from scratch once again, creating the company Passopisciaro.
An action of recovery of the old vineyards of Nerello Mascalese begins, also giving life to new vineyards of autochthonous varieties such as Petit Verdot, Cesanese di Affile and Chardonnay, at an altitude of 1000 meters. But Franchetti does even more by creating “Le contrade dell’Etna”: a wine-making event aimed at sharing the beauty of that territory with other winemakers, inspiring many to invest in those volcanic lands that had lately been underestimated.

Following the model of the of Burgundy crus, Franchetti aims to give the lands of Etna the trust and respect they deserve. Lands that have repaid him with the best fruits and aromas, and that now miss his presence. In 2021 Andrea Franchetti passed away in Rome after a long illness and, even though the wine world has lost a role model, he will always be remembered as a brilliant, out of the ordinary winemaker. A father figure for many, nonconformist, always true to himself, he dictated with tireless sagacity and foresight new rules for wine lovers, going against pre-defined dogmas.