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exploring taste – Spring/Summer 2016 heritage – Lunch with Gaetano Marzotto

Changing cultural habits have transformed the way wine is produced: we give more

importance to the genuineness and sustainability of our products. Today people drink
more responsibly and they choose wines of higher quality.

C an you tell us how your story with Santa Mar- cess were wines – as well as the glass factory, which is very im-

portant: we needed it to make bottles for wine, milk, and the
gherita began?

There was a period in our childhood in which my brother Stefa- fruit juices obtained from the orchards. Thus in Portugruaro
a factory was born which today is a listed company known
no and I would often go to Portogruaro to visit our grandfather, as Zignago Vetro. Passion and entrepreneurial enthusiasm
and eventually with my two younger brothers – Nicolò and has been our driving force together with a desire to create
Luca – and our father Vittorio Emanuele. During these visits wealth and well-being. My grandfathers goal was not only to
we would go for long walks and he would share his passion with create an industrial framework, but also to promote a better
us and most of all his vision: which drove him to transform this social structure. In Portogruaro, but also in Valdagno, as in
marvelous countryside near the sea, which at the time was still other places where he built businesses, my grandfather cre-
swampy and mostly dedicated to hunting and fishing, into a ated schools, preschools and a series of social activities that
sort of agricultural industrial district. From grapes he made allowed people to lead a serene life.
wine, from cows he made milk, cheese, and yogurt, from sugar
a sugar refinery, from flax the flax mill, and so on. It was a pro- As a classic example of entrepreneurial passion combined with
cess that revitalized a very depressed area of Veneto, at the bor- a solid welfare system within the company and sound historical
ders with Friuli, which, during the Thirties was suffering from roots, are these the driving forces that have brought Santa Mar-
a local recession as well as from the global economic depression gherita to where it is today?
of the time. My grandfather transformed the territory and cre-
ated jobs. Before he stepped in, there were 200 sharecroppers Yes, a great passion for life, for doing, for creating well-being
working six months a year (following the rhythm set by land and wealth, for the production of good products. My grand-
owners). He created 1,200 real jobs for agricultural workers father was passionate about food and wine, and valued the
that worked all year round. traditions and culture surrounding the act of being at the ta-
Then, over time, we noticed that the products with most suc- ble; he had a true love of conviviality, creating his own recipes

The four Marzotto brothers, from left: Luca, Gaetano, Nicolò e Stefano

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