Li Veli features little-known native grape varieties of Puglia in its Askos line. With just 125 acres (50 ha) in all of Italy, Susumaniello certainly fits in that category. Li Veli's varietal Susumaniellos are a rare opportunity to taste this ancient grape variety that is just starting to garner attention.
The Masseria is imbued with history.
In the woods close to the Masseria there are visible signs of the first inhabitants: caves and carved rocks belonging to the Eneolithic period, dating back to 2500 and 2300 B.C.
Li Veli is located in the Salento region, half way between the West and the East, the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea, and has always been a land of encounter between cultures and people. In the I century B.C. this land was inhabited by the Messapi whose name signifies “people between two seas”. The Greeks and Romans also arrived here. At the end of the VII century A.D. the “Limite dei greci” was built which represented the boundary between the Lombards to the north and Byzantium to the south.
A Marquis from the Salento region and an internationally renowned economist, member of Parliament of the Reign of Italy, had a dream of Li Veli which he built and caused to prosper.
The years passed and the dream slowly vanished, almost completely. Then, a century later, a family from Tuscany arrived.
Li Veli was built by the Marquis Antonio de Viti de Marco at the end of the XIX century: in this ancient site, inhabited for millennia, the great economist from Lecce created what would become a model of viticulture for the whole of Apulia. In subsequent years however, the Masseria saw that great dream slowly disappear. It was at the end of the twentieth century, in 1999, that a family from Tuscany arrived, the Falvo family, who had already written one of the most amazing pages in the history of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Vin Santo. This family fell in love with the dream of the great economist and decided to buy and renovate the Masseria and to dream again that ancient dream of the Marquis Antonio De Viti de Marco.
In 1999, about a century after the foundation of Masseria Li Veli, a group of investors, guided by the historic Tuscan winery Avignonesi, leaders from the beginning of the ‘80s of the international recognition of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Vin Santo, bought and renovated Masseria Li Veli with the aim of giving new life to a project of excellence in Apulia, an ancient region of great potential in high quality products. The project proceeded in alternating phases until, in 2008, the entire estate became the property of the brothers Edoardo and Alfredo Falvo, who gave life to an ambitious project of renovation and relaunching of the brand. In a few years the estate vineyards, the bottles produced and sales increased substantially, turning Masseria Li Veli into one of the top Apulian estates in terms of quality of the products and brand recognition. The brothers Edoardo and Alfredo are the current managers of the estate with the collaboration of their cousin Alessandro who became part of the company in 2018.
