From Cupramontana to the world: the birth of a brand
Fazi Battaglia was founded in 1949 in Cupramontana in the Marche region — initially as a merger of the two eponymous families, before entrepreneur Francesco Angelini took over the winery and gave it its decisive character. Angelini, known in the region as a visionary, focused early on a grape variety that hardly anyone knew at the time: Verdicchio. In 1953, he launched a design competition to give the wine an unmistakable face. Architect Antonio Maiocchi won with a design that picked up the shape of ancient Etruscan amphorae — the curved bottle that soon earned the nickname "the Sophia Loren" in America and made Fazi Battaglia internationally famous. In 1956, the winery moved to a larger facility in Castelplanio, where it is still based today. Today, the Angelini family continues to run the company as part of Angelini Wines & Estates, with the declared aim of preserving the identity of Marche viticulture while simultaneously breaking new ground.
130 hectares, one grape variety, no compromise
What distinguishes Fazi Battaglia from most wineries of this size is the consistent focus on a single denomination: 130 hectares of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, distributed across carefully selected sites in the hills of the Castelli di Jesi. Among them is a 24-hectare amphitheater-shaped vineyard above Cupramontana, at an altitude of more than 400 meters, originally planted in 1967 and replanted in 2005. The soils vary in composition and exposure from site to site — a spectrum that allows the winery to work out different expressions of Verdicchio.
In the cellar, Fazi Battaglia combines classic cellar tradition with modern technology. The Titulus, the house's most famous cuvée, is hand-picked, gently pressed, and cold-fermented — the wine then matures on the lees for four months, which gives it texture and substance without masking the freshness of the grape variety. For the house's red wines — including Sangiovese and Montepulciano — maturation in oak barrels is used.
Verdicchio as a program: what defines the wines of Fazi Battaglia
Verdicchio is one of the few white grape varieties in Italy with genuine aging potential — it is not without reason that it is occasionally referred to as the "white Barolo of the Marche." Fazi Battaglia has shaped this variety over decades and systematically developed its potential: naturally high acidity, pronounced minerality, and a slight green shimmer in the glass, which gives the name its origin (verde, green). In the glass, the Titulus shows fresh aromas of green apple, citrus peel, and white peach, plus a salty note in the finish shaped by the Adriatic wind — a style that positions Verdicchio as an independent international variety, not as a regional niche player. Anyone who puts Fazi Battaglia on the shelf gets a wine that works just as well with fish dishes from the Adriatic, light meat, or strong hard cheese as it does as a straightforward aperitif to start an evening.
