Villa Canestrari was founded in the 1990s from the fusion of the Bonuzzi and Franchi families, both of which have been active in the production of typical Veronese wines for over 130 years. The vineyards are located in the Val d'Illasi, between the municipalities of Colognola ai Colli and Illasi. In Illasi, above the aging cellar of Villa Canestrari, a Wine Museum has been set up, where the passion for viticulture and the recognition for the work of ancestors can be felt. They have preserved documents and equipment for more than a century that enthusiasts can rediscover and admire during guided tours.
The museum path is developed in various rooms where a series of tools dating back to the early 1900s are collected: devices for drying grapes, various types of filters, and bottling machinery.
In the office from the 1920s, typewriters and old ledgers belonging to the Bonuzzi family, the owners of the Villa, are displayed. An important testimony is the winemaking notebook dated 1886, used by Carlo Bonuzzi, an ancestor of the family who owned many vineyards in the Val d'Illasi.
On the first floor of the Museum, there is a reconstruction of a laboratory for wine analysis, where, in a suggestive setting, period equipment is displayed.
What was once the granary where grapes were dried for the Recioti has now become a hall where tasting courses and themed evenings are held, with the aim of spreading wine culture and deepening the themes of wine.
