...thus on 22nd of March 2011, I was in my car for the meeting scheduled at 10 AM in Markovac located nearby Visnjan (Visignano) where POLETTI family lives and produce wine…

MARKOVAC 14 - VISNJAN (VISIGNANO) – THE PLACE WHERE SIXTH GENERATION IS DEDICATING TIME AND PASSION TO THE SITE OF THEIR ANCESTORS….

Markovac 14 is POLETTI family address… I followed the new highway “Y” till Visnjan and on my exit from the highway in just five minutes drive I was at the entrance of Markovac…

Once in Markovac I noted the sign indicating POLETTI wines and on the road I was looking for the number 14… at the same moment Mr. POLETTI was entering his property with his truck thus made it easier for me to find him…

Markovac is located above the sea level and from POLETTI’s family property a beautifully view spread towards the western coast of Istria and the sea… the view from the estate reminded me the view from the prehistoric hill fort settlement of Monkodonja nearby Rovinj…

MR. PETER (PIER) POLETTI … THE NEW GENERATION OF ISTRIAN WINEMAKERS…

Mr. Piero POLETTI is from the middle generation of Istrian winemakers… a very kind person full of energy and passion towards what he is developing… and from each of his words I felt his ancestors  living in him…

When we entered his tavern I recognized most of the pictures that I saw on his website of his parents and grandparents… and it was like a small family museum with the smell of the wine cellar as the background of the scene… I saw only a part of the many documents Mr. POLETTI conserved…

But when Mr. Poletti, called by his family and friends Pier, told me that he was the sixth generation continuing to make wine on the same property… my mind went to the old native Americans… and a say that their decisions were taken by taking into account the impact that a certain decision would have on seven generations before taking any decision… this might be a legend but I like it… and it tells you that you need to be wise to make those kind of decisions and that’s not easy…

He walked me through some of the papers and documents on the wall… and I learned that in 1842, Piero Bernobich gave 113 florins to his father-in-law Marco Dellamarna to buy the plot of land on which the house and later on his family was built.

The land and its fruits, wine and olives, became their only possession… and because of the time they were dedicating to the land and its fruits it has turned into a passion.

This love proved to be stronger than the uncertainty of life in those ancient times...

He was pleased to read to me some of the letters exposed on the wall… that to me they sounded more like written by Alessandro Manzoni than by a person from Visnjan (Visignana) during the mid of the 19th century…

While Mr. Pier POLETTI was exposing the story of his family … the way his family settled on the property … and also the way he is currently taking care of the property today the above thought were in my mind…

The letter he was reading to me was referred to a request for the son to remain at home to help the over 70 years old parents during the war time and that letter might have saved the life of one of Mr. Pier’s ancestors thus allowed his birth… and I told him that he should read Oriana Fallaci’s novel “Un cappello pieno di cilliege”…

In that book, the Florentine writer tells the story of her family between 1773 and 1889… and among many fascinating stories Oriana shares in that book there are some stories that reminded me the story Mr. Pier POLETTI told me that day.