Antinori, one of Italy’s most important wine producers, based in tuscany. The modern wine firm was founded by brothers Lodovico and Piero Antinori in 1895, although the Antinori family can trace their history in the wine trade back to 1385, when Giovanni di Pietro Antinori enrolled in the Vintners Guild of Florence. Like the vast majority of the Florentine nobility, the Antinori were, for centuries, producers of wine on their substantial country properties.
The work of the 19th-century brothers was continued by Piero’s son Niccolò, who extended the house’s commercial network both in Italy and into foreign markets and purchased the Castello della Sala estate near orvieto in Umbria. The house developed a certain reputation for its white wines, sold under the Villa Antinori label, and for its Chianti, made in a soft and fruity style. Although the family fortunes flourished, Antinori was only a medium-sized operation in 1966 when Piero Antinori, the son of Niccolò Antinori, took over.
