The building complex to which the Winery belongs was originally part of a single property with the “Castelletto” standing on the adjacent hill of the same name. Originally established as a military settlement dating back to the medieval period, from the early 1400s until the late 1500s, it was inhabited by the noble Aliprandi family. Elisabetta Aliprandi II appointed the monks of Santa Giustina as her heirs. The inheritance included not only the Castelletto but also a villa known as “casa da stravio da paron” with a walled courtyard, a dovecote, two barns, an extensive wooded area, and cultivated fields.
This vast property was known as the Commenda, and the holdings of the Castelletto exceeded 240 hectares of land. In the late 16th century, the monks relinquished control of the entire property, given its vastness, to Marquis Giovanni di Santa Croce. With the suppression of the monastic orders during the Napoleonic era, the estate became the property of a wealthy merchant, and in 1809, it was purchased by the Venetian princes Giovanelli, who adapted the monastic complex into a patrician residence. From 1864, the estate passed to the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta and remained in their possession until the last world conflict, during which it was occupied by the command of the Wehrmacht’s X army.
Subsequently, the estate was divided and subdivided into multiple properties. The location where the winery is situated, always dedicated to viticulture, was managed by Domenico Bernardi, a sharecropper of the plot, in the first half of the 20th century. The land later passed to his son, Giovanni Bernardi, who decided to continue and expand the wine production and vinification initiated by his father. In 1931, he made the decision to establish the winery, achieving great success. Currently, the management of the winery is in the hands of the Bernardi family, who with great passion continue the viticultural history of these lands.