The Monserrato company was born in 1973 from an intuition of Cavalier Francesco Zecchina, a Neapolitan building builder, passionate about wines, who a few years earlier decided to follow his passion on the hills around Benevento, at the foot of Monte Serrato, arranging a ruin dating back to 1962 Irpinia earthquake. With the help of a young friend and farmer he began by planting tobacco and olive trees, halfway up the hill, on an area of ​​about 60 hectares fed by spring water. At the end of the 1980s, production was basically tobacco, olives and grapes. Oil and wine were produced mainly for family use and given to friends and relatives, much appreciated gifts that were then requested with grateful solicitude.

After a period of transition, the management of the company is now entrusted to Paola, Francesco’s daughter, and her son Lucio.

In recent years, a corporate restructuring process has been initiated aimed at introducing new native vines, expanding the olive-growing area and replacing the

tobacco production with various arable crops from organic cultivation, a sincere expression of the territory. Currently, three oil labels and a line of five wines are produced from the company’s olive groves and vineyards.

Always with the aim of enhancing the indigenous products of the area with organic practices, the cultivation of an ancient variety of durum wheat, saragolla wheat, was started. This famous yellow grain wheat, introduced in central Italy in 400 AD, spread a lot in Italy during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, so much so that durum wheat in general was identified with the term Saragolla.

From the cultivation of this one-of-a-kind wheat, a line of pasta made entirely from 100% saragolla durum wheat, including wholemeal, was born.

In addition to wheat, the cultivation of indigenous varieties of Benevento legumes such as chickpeas and beans has also developed on the farm.