La Veneranda sits quietly within this landscape, its story stretching well beyond the first bottles. The Moncelli family has been part of Montefalco since 1568, their roots woven into the land. In 1827, Maria Aloisa Moncelli led the estate with calm strength and a cultured spirit, earning the affectionate name “La Veneranda,” the Venerable. Her presence lingers in the winery’s name, a thread connecting past and present to the women who continue her work today.
That spirit lives on today, warm and determined. Eleonora Alessandrelli and Anna Rita Scarca, together with their families—descendants of Maria Aloisa Moncelli—guide La Veneranda. Valeria Gasparri stands beside them, shaped by years spent far from these hills. Together, they tend about 18 hectares of vines and make Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG, Montefalco Rosso, Grechetto, and other wines from the land. Olive trees, free-range animals, and the cheeses and cured meats that reach the tasting table are part of the daily rhythm. From vineyard to table, hospitality here is not a gesture, but a way of being. Guests are welcomed into a living story, where land, family, and quiet generosity remain at the center.
Anna Rita Scarca: Choosing the Land That Chose Her
Anna Rita is the steady heart of La Veneranda. She grew up here, carrying meals to seasonal workers in the fields and learning early that hard work and community belong together. Those summers shaped her understanding of kindness as a form of leadership, and that sense of belonging continues to guide her. In that way, her story begins not with wine, but with the life that surrounds it.
“I was the one who actively chose this path,” she says, “because Montefalco has always been my home and I knew that my future was here.” She wanted to create something that carried her identity and her bond to the land — wine as the natural language of that belonging. The women who came before her, women who ran businesses when it was still uncommon, gave her the confidence to lead with respect, care, and good manners while building something meaningful for the community.
Valeria Gasparri: A Link Between Two Worlds
Valeria’s path took her far from Montefalco, but it shaped her just as deeply. She spent a decade in China, seven years immersed in Italian wine import and distribution. That experience taught her to adapt and meet each day with openness, and it eventually led her back to La Veneranda. From there, her return feels less like a detour than a continuation.
“If there is one thing I have brought back with me, it is adaptability… This mindset helps me every day, especially in my work, where I constantly face new challenges and work with international markets.”
One ordinary phone call changed everything. A client in southern China asked for a great Sagrantino and, knowing she was Umbrian, turned to her. That request led her to La Veneranda and, eventually, home. “Looking back, it feels like a beautiful connection between my experience abroad and my roots in Umbria—a bridge between two worlds that became my present.”
The Quiet Strength of Small Gestures
Listening to them, a shared sensibility emerges: authenticity matters more than performance, presence is valued over hurry, and small gestures keep hospitality real.
Anna Rita still keeps a simple napkin close, just as it has always belonged on the family table. At La Veneranda, it quietly does its work: catching a drop of wine spilled in laughter, drying a tear of celebration, fluttering as a fan on a warm afternoon, or waving goodbye at the end of a visit.
“A napkin may seem insignificant,” she says, “but to me it tells a story: it is a symbol of hospitality, of emotions shared around a table, and of the small gestures that make people feel welcome.”
What Keeps Them Grounded
Standing alone in the vineyard as the sun sets, she listens for hawks overhead. That sound connects her to the women who once walked these slopes and to the land she still tends.
“That sound feels almost timeless. It reminds me that I am connected to something much bigger than myself… And sometimes I wonder: perhaps they stopped here too, perhaps they listened to the same sounds of nature, watched the same sunsets, and felt the same connection with this land.”
If she could bottle one emotion to share with younger women entering the industry, it would be humility—written on the label in very small letters. “In this world, where it is easy to focus on success, recognition, and appearances, humility is a value we need more than ever. It allows us to keep learning, to listen, to respect others, and to remember that every achievement is built with many people and many experiences.”
Valeria’s counsel to her younger self is equally clear: do not be afraid of the road less traveled. Leaving home for China was one of the biggest decisions of her life. “Growth begins the moment you step outside your comfort zone… Being authentic is far more valuable than trying to meet other people’s expectations.”
What keeps Anna Rita grounded in a fast, noisy world is her connection with the people around her—family, friends, colleagues. “Being a source of encouragement and support for the people I love reminds me of the importance of staying human, listening, and being present.”
The moments she treasures most are the laughter shared with the women who work alongside her every day: funny stories, unexpected episodes, the freedom to laugh with her and sometimes at her. “Creating a team means creating a family… These small moments of laughter and lightness are very important to me. They tell us that, behind the work, the wine, and the responsibilities, we are still people who need connection, joy, and genuineness.”
The Sound of a Life in Wine
If her life in wine were music, it would be a peaceful classical melody—timeless, elegant, full of emotion—and the instrument would be the violin. “Perhaps it reflects who I am: a woman with a classical spirit, someone who appreciates tradition, beauty, and the value of things made with patience and care.”
Lavender is the scent that instantly returns her to a place of peace: the quiet beauty of the Umbrian countryside, small country churches, hidden hermitages where time seems to slow. She dreams of planting it around the renewed estate so the fragrance becomes part of daily life. In that dream, memory and place meet again.
Always Room to Grow
What surprised her most, stepping fully into the world of wine in Montefalco, was discovering that there is always space and time to grow. Umbria was once seen as remote, hemmed in by mountains, yet watching the people here reinvent themselves with steady dedication shaped how she imagines the next generation and their part in carrying this place onward. That lesson leads naturally to her sense of responsibility.
“Our role is not only to preserve what we have inherited, but also to create opportunities, encourage new ideas, and show young people that even a place with deep roots, like vines, can continue to evolve, grow, and produce fruit.”
A Dinner of Women Who Walk Beside Us
When I asked Anna Rita whom she would invite to a quiet dinner with three women who have shaped her life, she answered immediately: her mother, her business partner Eleonora, and her best friend. Her choice sets the tone for a meal rooted in intimacy and gratitude.
The setting would be intimate, the kind of evening that unfolds slowly around a table rather than on a stage. She would prepare a traditional Umbrian dish—wild boar stew, rich and deeply flavored, the kind of food that speaks of the land and of the long, patient cooking that once filled farmhouse kitchens. She would serve their own Sagrantino.
“Wine is not only what we produce,” she explains, “but also a way to celebrate memories, conversations, and connections. Sagrantino really represents the personality of my three ladies.”
The questions she would ask each of them are simple, yet they carry the weight of a lifetime.
To her mother, she would ask whether she is proud of the person she has become and of everything she has built so far—a question that holds gratitude and the quiet hope of recognition from the first woman who shaped her.
To Eleonora, her business partner and daily companion in this mutual adventure, she would ask if she would choose to set out on this journey with her all over again. “I already know her answer,” Anna Rita adds, with the calm certainty that comes from years of walking the same path side by side.
And to her best friend, she would ask whether she ever thought Anna Rita should have followed a different path in life—a question that acknowledges the doubts and alternate roads friends sometimes see more clearly than we do.
“Ultimately,” she says, “this dinner would celebrate the women who have supported me, inspired me, and walked beside me throughout my journey—and it would leave me with gratitude and a clearer understanding of the women who have shaped my life.”
There is something quietly moving in the way she describes it. Not a table set for distant icons, but for the women who have shaped her days: the mother who first showed her strength, the partner who builds alongside her, the friend who has seen every choice and quiet triumph. Around that table, wild boar stew would send up its rich aroma, Sagrantino would open in the glass, and the conversation would settle, as it often does at La Veneranda, on what matters most: memory, loyalty, and the simple act of being seen. From there, the spirit of the place becomes unmistakable.
The Spirit of La Veneranda
This is the spirit of La Veneranda: feminine, friendly, touched with irony—three words chosen by the women themselves when asked to describe the winery in their own language. It is not a place of pretense or solemnity. Here, the table is set with care, a napkin still matters, and the call of a hawk at sunset can feel like a conversation across generations. Kindness is not a gentle afterthought, but a chosen way to lead.
In a region celebrated for the strength of Sagrantino, Anna Rita and Valeria show that strength can be quiet, rooted, and deeply human. Their story is not only about wine. It is about choosing the land that chose them, carrying forward the courage of those who came before, and leaving the door open for those who will follow.