Settemaggio: a journey through Ticino, one glass at a time
There are wines you taste. And then there are wines that, to be truly understood, ask you to get to know the place they come from.
With Settemaggio, the journey begins like this: leaving the city behind and heading north up the Ticino, while the landscape slowly changes. The valley narrows, the green deepens, and stone walls appear, along with old village centres and vineyards that have learned to live with a vertical land.
The destination is Giornico, one of those places that seem to keep a time of their own.
And this is exactly where Settemaggio invites you to begin.
The door opens onto the winery
Via Ügazz 13.
Behind a simple address lies the new Settemaggio winery, recently renovated. The visit lasts about two hours, but the idea is to forget the clock for a while.
Before tasting, there is talking.
About the land, the different growing areas, the climate and the soil. About what happens in the vineyard before a bunch of grapes becomes wine. Because a bottle is not born in the cellar: it begins much earlier, in the place where the vine grows.
Then come the glasses.
Five Settemaggio wines, five chances to recognise different nuances of the same land. With them comes a generous aperitif made with seasonal Ticino products.
This is probably the moment when the visit changes in nature.
You are no longer simply at a tasting. Wine, food and storytelling begin to form something larger: a small portrait of Upper Ticino.
Then you step outside. And there is Giornico.
It would be a shame to leave straight away.
Giornico is one of the places where the past of the Leventina can still be read as you walk. Stone, alleys, old buildings and a landscape that tells how this valley was, for centuries, a place of passage, encounter and work.
A few steps away you can discover the Romanesque church of San Nicolao and the Museo di Leventina, or step into the striking simplicity of La Congiunta, the space devoted to the works of sculptor Hans Josephsohn. Settemaggio also suggests a visit to the Fabbrica culturale baviera, a contemporary presence within the village's historic fabric.
You don't have to do everything.
Perhaps the best way to experience Giornico is to allow yourself the luxury of not being in a hurry.
A walk. An open church. A wall warmed by the sun. And perhaps, having just tasted it, the feeling of understanding a little better why a wine made here has a character all its own.
The day continues south
The journey resumes towards Monte Carasso.
The landscape changes again and, on the outskirts of Bellinzona, the experience enters its slowest part.
Waiting for guests is Ca’ Pölete – Do-Minus Guesthouse, BikeStop & MiniSPA. The stay includes one night in a B&B, a self-service breakfast and access to the mini spa with sauna, outdoor hot tub and cold plunge pool.
It is easy to imagine the rest.
Drop your bags. Take off your shoes. Slip into the warm water.
And perhaps think back to one of the wines tasted a few hours earlier.
There is not much more to add.
The evening can come at its own pace.
The next morning, looking at Ticino from above
Monte Carasso deserves to be discovered too.
Its centre, transformed through the work of architect Luigi Snozzi, received the Wakker Prize in 1993. But you only need to look up to see that the journey can go higher still.
At 612 metres lies Curzùtt, an old hamlet restored and protected, reachable on foot or by cable car.
From here you can continue to the Tibetan Bridge, suspended above the valley, or keep climbing to the Monti di Mornera, at about 1,400 metres.
Up there, the view changes completely.
Woods, trails, silence and the valley far below.
And where the cable car arrives stands the Grotto Mornera, where the cooking once again speaks the language of the land.
Among the products served is Settemaggio wine.
It is almost the perfect ending.
Because the wine tasted the day before in the cellar returns to the glass, but this time the landscape that accompanied it throughout the journey is right in front of you.
Wine, at last, has a place
This is the experience that won us over.
Not just five wines to taste. Not just a winery to visit.
But Giornico, the Leventina, Monte Carasso, Curzùtt, Mornera.
People, architecture, food, landscape.
Around its wine, Settemaggio has built an invitation to get to know the land slowly. And perhaps that is exactly how Upper Ticino should be discovered: not by collecting places, but by giving yourself the time to live them.
It is also why we chose Settemaggio for SAPORI.WORLD.
We look for products that still have something to say after the bottle has been opened. Products with real people, places and stories behind them.
Here, that story begins in a vineyard.
It continues inside a winery.
It crosses an old village in the Leventina, descends towards Bellinzona and then climbs again, up to the mountains.
And in the end it returns exactly where it began: inside a glass.
Experience Settemaggio
The visit to the Giornico winery lasts about two hours and includes a tasting of five Settemaggio wines with a generous aperitif of seasonal Ticino products.
The experience can continue with an overnight stay at Ca’ Pölete in Monte Carasso, while Giornico, Curzùtt, the Tibetan Bridge and Mornera offer further chances to turn a winery visit into a small journey through the region.
Advance booking is required for the tasting. For availability, conditions and up-to-date information, please contact Settemaggio directly.
Discover the full experience on the Settemaggio website: