Il Sapore della Terra (The Taste of the Land) – The Movie
A mosaic of voices and places, period photos and black and white film footage, to compose a tale that restores the slow rhythm of the earth's work over the seasons and the discreet and profound charm of the union between a landscape and a centuries-old culture preserved in the shadow of castles.
In 1577 Giacomo Boncompagni, the new Lord of the Marquisate of Vignola, sent his own emissary to explore the fief he had received as a gift from Pope Gregory XIII. The Visitor travelled the length and breadth of the territory, and in the report he wrote at the end of his long journey, he spoke of these lands as a place inhabited by ingenious people, vast and varied, stretching from the plains to the ridges of the Apennines, a place dotted with castles and whose beating heart was the flourishing market of the city of Vignola, the capital.
Today these lands are still inhabited by ingenious men, who treasure age-old traditions to create unique and special gastronomic products and look confidently to the future of their territory. A mosaic of voices, places and period photos compose a tale that restores the slow rhythm of the work of the land throughout the seasons and the discreet and profound charm of the union between a landscape and a centuries-old culture preserved in the shadow of castles.
WATCH THE FULL MOVIE
The Project
The project that gave rise to the documentary Il sapore della terra (The taste of the land) was launched with the objective of making a promotional video of the territory of the Terre di Castelli Union, a vast and varied territory that extends from the plains in the province of Modena to the ridges of the Apennines. The Local Administration's idea was not to be limited to a normal institutional video but to develop a more ambitious project, an audiovisual product to promote the territory, but with a documentary and authorial slant.
Following a fruitful discussion with the administration staff, we agreed that the most effective way to develop the work was to tell the story of this composite and peculiar territory through the story of the people who inhabit it and who have been making special gastronomic products for centuries.
We travelled the length and breadth of these lands, from the plains to the Apennines, meeting passionate farmers who cultivate cherries, chestnut growers in the more mountainous areas, passing through the hills of vineyards that give rise to Lambrusco, and stopping to listen to the fascinating stories of those who have been involved in the production of cured meats, Parmigiano Reggiano and balsamic vinegar for generations.
Our meeting with a historian, a profound connoisseur of the historical events of these places and the Lords who governed them over the centuries, made us realise how the knowledge possessed by the inhabitants of this area is rooted in the centuries, in a sort of sedimentation of the culture and passion that characterises these lands. We have tried to restore the sense of that culture through the soul and passion of those people. It is a mosaic of voices that through the personal stories of the protagonists tells of the uniqueness of this territory. Ingenious men, who treasure age-old traditions to create unique and special gastronomic products and who look confidently to the future of their territory. Faces, places, period photos that compose a tale that restores the slow rhythm of the work of the land throughout the seasons and the discreet and profound charm of the union between a landscape and a centuries-old culture preserved in the shadow of majestic castles.
Giulio Filippo Giunti
WATCH THE CLIP
People who collaborated on the project:
- Fausto and Alessio Altariva - Azienda Vitivinicola Fattoria Moretto, Castelvetro di Modena
- Massimo Bonetti - Agriturismo Fondo Montecuccoli, Vignola
- Giuseppe Ferri - Azienda Agricola Cà Lumaco, Montetortore di Zocca
- Gran Maestro Maurizio Fini - Consorteria dell’Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, Spilamberto
- Stefano Fogacci - Azienda Agrituristica Tizzano, Monteombraro di Zocca
- Gilberto Leonelli - Azienda Agricola La Pendice, Zocca
- Achille Lodovisi - Responsabile del Centro di documentazione della Fondazione di Vignola
- Maria Miani - Azienda Agricola La Bifolca, Vignola
- Carlo and Franco Miani - Azienda Agricola, Vignola
- Agnese Prandi - AltoForno Impasti Agresti, Roccamalatina di Guiglia
- Giuseppe Villani - Villani Salumi - Arte di famiglia dal 1886, Castelnuovo Rangone
A Terre di Castelli Union production
VIVI SCOPRI ASSAPORA project
Progetto cofinanziato dalla Regione Emilia-Romagna nell’ambito degli interventi
“Progetti di promozione e marketing del territorio” LR. 41/97 (Azione 1)
Prodotto da Marilisa Murgia per Free U