It was 1930. My grandfather Adolfo Fioretti owned a small holding in Savigno and traded grain and flour.
In 1962 my father Gino bought a holding called Tintore in Castello di Serravalle and, following in his father's footsteps, started trading cereals and fruits (Duroni of Vignola, plums, apples, table grapes and wine grapes).
In 1990, after a brief period of working as an employee, I heard the call of the land and I began my activity of a farmer.
In 1999, with my wife Francesca, we opened the Agriturismo La Tintoria.
Now with the help of our daughters Isabella, Federica and Stefania the story goes on..
The territory
In the sweet hills of the Samoggia Valley, in between Bologna and Modena, in a harmonic series of vineyards and groves, old parishes, towers and old mills, the small medieval village of the Tintoria is the natural landing point of a tourist looking for nature, history and tastes of the area. Here, indeed, is where the torrent Samoggia laps the badlands, Castello di Serravalle("City of wine") and where Savigno("City of truffles") meets. It was on these crests that the old road Cassia (street that connected Rome with Modena) was run and it was in this area that the inhabitants of Bologna and Modena fought in 1325 (Battle of Zappolino). Also, it was just in Tintoria during 1843 that the papal armies battled with the first rebel of the Italian Renaissance. It is in this border area that the different traditions blend together, and a culture of food and products of the area develop and enrich itself.
Via Valle del Samoggia, 5908 - 40050 Castello di Serravalle (BO)
The Agriturismo
Agriturismo Tastes and hospitality
The agriturismo
In the centre of the small medieval village of Tintoria, in an ancient rural building, completely renewed, you can find the Agriturismo. The building is composed of a characteristic dining room with a big fireplace and near it is a small room for wine tasting that was obtained from the old stall. On the first floor, there is a big room for parties and conventions, a reading room and the five bedrooms. The whole building is projected and realised to satisfy at best the needs of our guests. Every detail of the house, vaulted ceilings, wood ceilings, colonnades, terracotta floors, but particularly the furniture in real Arte Povera, was refined to make the guests feel at ease. The renovations were done so that the environment would not loose the warmth of the ancient things, and all was realised with passion. The search of materials, like the terracotta for the floors, the wooden beams for the ceilings, the tiling for the bathrooms and the details of the furniture, all contributes to make it so the environment in which the guests stay will be unforgettable.
Restaurant The cooking
The strength of the Agriturismo is the restaurant, that faithfully follows the local traditions. It proposes typical dishes of Bologna and the surrounding area, reviewing old recipes to rediscover tastes of the past. All this is possible thanks to the direct growing of the product in the farm. In an ancient, warm, and relaxing environment, the guest can enjoy and taste the typical products of the area and the products of the agriturismo. The menu proposed and suggested changes with the seasons and the availability of the products. Doing so, we always try to offer fresh dishes and with high quality products.
Wine tasting room
The room for the wine tasting was obtained from the old stall of the farm. The room is really characteristic, it is furnished with old shelves in which there is a selection of our wine and wines of the best wine growers of Colli Bolognesi. We have a small selection of balsamic vinegar from Modena, typical liquors, lambrusco (slightly sparkling red wine typical of Emilia Romagna) and other wine of the region.
Parties and conventions' room
On first floor there is a room that can be a TV room, a reading room or simply a room in which you can have a good chat. There is also a lift in the building. It has recently been possible to obtain from the old attic, which was used as storage in the past, a room used now for conventions, meetings, stages, parties… Thanks to the activity of the Agriturismo it is possible to organise real banquets and buffet. The renovations, that lasted many years, gave the building some details that nowadays many people try to recover and recreate. It is a nice encounter between the remembrance of the past and the services of the future.
Via Valle del Samoggia, 5908 - 40050 Castello di Serravalle (BO)
The Restaurant
The Farm Fruits of the land
The Farm
The base of the farm is located in the middle of the Samoggia valley, in Tintoria, from which it takes its name. It is 1 km away from Savigno ("City of truffles") and 6 km away from the chief town Castello di Serravalle ("City of wine"). The countryside arises to visitors as extremely diverse, not only for the production aspect, but also the landscape. In the downstream part of the holding, there is the torrent Samoggia that delimits the south east part, with the fluvial park on the boundaries where you can find the mill La Crolla; it is an old rural building that during the middle of the XIX century used the strength of the water to select the seeds, and now it is under renovations. In this flat area of the farm the fields are meadowland and orchards; especially cherries (Duroni di Vignola), plums, apricots, peaches and old variety of apples that are used for the production of conserve and jam. We use the available vegetables during the current season for the preparation of the dishes of the restaurant.
Upstream of the road and near the farm building, in the hills at the feet of the characteristic "calanchi" (badlands), you can find a true natural oasis with an oak grove, a small lake and a natural truffle-ground. These places are ideal for walks, where with a little luck you can admire, wild animals like hawks, buzzards and deer. Going back to the centre of the farm you can go through the vineyards, where the D.O.C (origin and quality controlled) wines of the Colli Bolognesi are obtained, like the Pignoletto. To complete the cultivations of the farm there are the fields of grain and the forage. All of the farm is conducted with the methods of integrated pest management.
Get into the Nuova Bazzanese at Casalecchio. Follow it until Muffa, turn left toward Monteveglio and then follow the directions for Savigno. In Bersagliera turn left and after about 5 km (3 miles) you will arrive in the village Tintoria, 1 km (0.6 miles) before Savigno.
It is also possible to arrive from the nearby valley of Lavin getting of the Nuova Bazzanese at the sign Zola Predosa-Tolè-Monte San Pietro (Zola Motel). Continue then for Calderino di Monte San Petro in direction of Tolè, arrived in Badia, go up the hill of Mongiorgio turning right toward Savigno. Go down on the opposite side after the bridge on the Samoggia river, turn left and after 300 meters (330 yards) on the right side of the road you will find the Agriturismo.
Exit from the highway A1 at the Modena Sud exit, take the Vignolese road until Spilamberto, then turn left toward Bazzano.
Continue for Monteveglio, following the direction Savigno. In Bersagliera turn left and then after about 5 km (3 miles) you will arrive in the village of the Tintoria. (1km/0.6miles before Savigno)
Via Valle del Samoggia, 5908 - 40050 Castello di Serravalle (BO)
Rooms
Events Parties, festival and dinners
The agriturismo offers to the guests different types of appointments throughout the year.
Theme dinners
They are inspired to a particular historical period (medieval dinners, reinassance dinners, etc..) or they are inspired to a specific product of the area (wine, cheeses, mushrooms and truffle, etc..)
Peasant dinners
These evenings focus on a specific moment of the country life (feast of Saint Antony, January 17, with a bonfire and pork meat just butchered; feast of Saint John, June 23, with the gathering of the walnut, for the preparation of nocino a walnut liqueur, and some witches legends; celebration for the end of the summer with songs and dances in the barnyard; etc..)
Village festivals
During some period of the year in Savigno and in Castello di Serravalle there are the following village festivals:
Savigno
Palio di Maggio, a traditional race where, as in the most famous of Siena, the horses are ridden bareback. (third Sunday of May) Truffle's Festival (first three Sundays of Novembre)
Castello di Serravalle
Laburnum (Golden chain). (during the month of May)
Goblet of stars. (August 10th, the night of Saint Laurence)
Sports events
The agriturismo organises hiking and mountain bike races with the collaboration of some local association during the year.
Via Valle del Samoggia, 5908 - 40050 Castello di Serravalle (BO)
Festivals
History Places, origins
Today our agriturismo is in the town of Castello di Serravale in a small and peaceful medieval village of the first hill in the Bologna area, on the road that leads to Savigno and that continues toward Tuscany. In the Roman age, our village was in the middle of a rich countryside which touched the east side of the Cassia, one of the big arterial paved roads of the Roman Empire that connected Rome with Modena. Between important Romans mansions, our settlement included a complex of rural houses with a nearby necropolis datable to the third or forth century A.D. It was a religious vocation that permitted the settlement to survive the difficult anguish of the barbarian invasions and the subdivision of the territory between the Byzantine Empire and the Lombard Kingdom, which had its border here. Up to the X century, it is testified that the presence of a church dedicated to Saint Donnino: at its feet rose on the foundation of Roman buildings, two tower-houses in stone and wood. Surely the Comacine masters were the ones who directed the building of the construction that had the double function of defence and house. In the Early Middle Ages the territory was indeed abandoned to itself and, while the town of Bologna and Modena were beginning to organise their territory, our village was under the influence of the Lords of Cuzzano, who from the near castle domineered on the valley and with their loyalty to the Emperor contrasted the requests of the city of Bologna that wanted their submission. Between betrayals and alliances, that saw the Cuzzano family allied with the inhabitants of Modena during the battle of Zappolino, one of their descendants named Carisio inherited the territory of our tower-houses. It is in fact from ‘400 that from inside our village started a small renaissance.
Carisio and his descendants upgraded to the noble class of notaries and settled their houses here, so that the first name of the village was from the house Accarisi. Beams and carved wood in the halls of the houses testify the noble test of the past everyday life. Unfortunately, toward the end of ‘500 after a long rainy season, Monte Mauro, that towered over the Accarisi Houses, slid over them in a landslide and buried the Romanesque church as it totally erased the highest part of the village. With the extinction of the Cuzzano family from the ‘600, the village fell under a progressive decay. Some farmers that served the church, which became the owner of most of the land, started to live in the towers, changing and enlarging the village. This is the outlook that the Abbot Calindri described in his history of the Apennines around bologna in ‘700. During the years, the economy of the village (other that the products of the gardens and groves) could count on the growing of mulberries and the farming of silkworms since it is a real peculiarity of this specific area of the valley. The water, indeed, becomes the new protagonist of the area that in the centuries transformed itself, as it was always developing.
On the banks of the Samoggia in the farm called “the lake”, maybe for a bight of the torrent itself, now rises a powerful mill that uses the energy of the waters (thanks to a canalisation that serves all the mills of the valley), that in the meantime have joined the mill activity to other small pre-industrial activity, like sawmills, crollature for seeds, and dye works. It is just this last activity of dying the hemp, linen, and silk that makes Bologna well known for the trade of fabrics at an international level, even in the ‘800. It is this building, really unique in the industrial archaeology of the valley, that to this day leaves an inheritance the name of the village and of the Agriturismo.
And meanwhile in the Tintoria in August 1843, the farmers got ready for the mass of Saint Mary’s feast and then some gunshots were heard; it started from here at the gates of the city of Savigno, the revolutionary movements inspired by Mazzini against the garrison of the Papal State police. The dream was, from the start from these hills, to unify Italy! Not far from the centre of the revolution (Moti di Savigno, August 15 1843), our stone and wooden houses were the operative bases of the army of the Pope Gregory XVI to restore the previous order in the area. These events didn’t stop the work in the Tintoria, works of which we preserve all the registers of the end of ‘800 after the unification of Italy. Starting from the twenties, the village faced another period of decay: first the big earthquake of 1929, then wounding of the second world war. The village was almost left untouched from both of the events, because of the solid bases were realised in the middle age. Only during the last years do we see a recovery of this important historical heritage of which the Agriturismo is first in rediscovery and improvement; a new little renaissance at the beginning of the new millennium.
Thanks for the historycal research to: Dott. Sergio La Canna e Dott. Vittorio Lenzi.
Via Valle del Samoggia, 5908 - 40050 Castello di Serravalle (BO)
Products Wine, cherries, specialities
The fields of the farm are specifically made to grow fruit, vegetables, and grapes for wine and to eat. The farm indeed is a part of the farmers’ cooperative of the Cherry and the Plum, typical from Vignola. It is also a part of the Mercato delle cose buone, and of the Consorzio Vini dei Colli Bolognesi.
The farm is specialised in the production and in the sale of the Duroni of Vignola (a kind of cherry, a typical product of the area) in which you can number the variety of the Anella, of the Anellone, of the Nero Primo of Vignola, of the Nero Secondo and of the Durone della Marca. Some different kinds of plums are produced, like the variety of Regina Claudia and Californian, also apricots, peaches and ancient variety of apple are produced. The vegetables grown with biological methods are used in the preparation of the dishes of the agriturismo’s restaurant, and they are also sold in the farm (potatoes, tomato, zucchini, eggplants, salads, melons, pumpkin, etc..). With the production of fruits and vegetables, we obtain conserve and jam that are used in the restaurant. All of our products are grown with methods that respect the environment and men's health.
The farm also produces wines of guaranteed origin and quality such as Colli Bolognesi (DOC) and like the Pignoletto, both still and sparkling, the Sauvignon, the Barbera, the Merlot, and the Cabernet Sauvignon. In the last years it was replanted, an old black native grape variety called the Negretto. The wine obtained from these grapes will possibly become a pleasant news of our hills. Through external processing we also produce the Nocino (walnut liqueur), the Grappa of Pignoletto(brandy distilled from wine or must), and the Rosolio of cherries (a liqueur made with cherries).
Prices are for the room per night with traditional breakfast included.
Additional bed for 10 Euros Twin room for single person 65 Euros Half board per person 60 Euros (Overnight stay with breakast and dinner without drinks)
Restaurant example prices
A la carte menu from Euros 25 to Euros 40
Set menu from Euros 25 to Euros 35 (Only for groups or thematic dinners)
The Agriturismo indeed is only few kilometres from Bologna and Modena, the two principal, historical, and artistic centres in the area that offer many places of interest. Other than these two it is possible to easily reach other important cities of our region, like Ferrara and Ravenna.
The Ferrari's museum in Maranello is the official exhibition of the company and it is full of amazing cars and prizes of the historical italian company winner in market and sports challenges. It is easy to reach the Ducati's museum, the famous company of Bologna.
Visit to the historical palaces of the valley
In the villages of the valley, you can find places of historical, artistic, and archaeological interest like Castello di Serravalle, Monteveglio's Abbey, and Bentivoglio's Fortress in Bazzano where you can find also the archaeology museum Arsenio Crespellani, Vignola's castle.
In Castello di Serravalle you can visit the ancient village of medieval origin, which inside hosts the"Ecomuseo della collina e del vino" (an ecological museum of the hill and of wine).
Sports and nature
There is trekking through the badlands (trekking, Regional Park of Monteveglio and of Sassi di Roccamalatina), riding stables, golf, and swimming pools (Centro Ippico Sant'Antonio in Savigno, Piscina Free Beach in Savigno, Golf Club Campanino in Monteveglio).
Fattorie Fioretti
View of the rooms 
