Rivalto, nestled in the hills of the Valdera, along The Wine Route of the Pisan Hills (La Strada del Vino delle Colline Pisane), has a long winemaking tradition.
In this territory, crossed by rivers Arno, Era, Elsa and Cecina, the most common varieties are San Giovese, Trebbiano, Malvasia, Ciliegiolo and Merlot, from which are obtained appreciated wines of Tuscan tradition, such as Chianti, Bianco Pisano di San Torpè, Vin Santo, Colli Etruria Centrale and the typical red and white mono-vineyard.
In this territory, crossed by rivers Arno, Era, Elsa and Cecina, the most common varieties are San Giovese, Trebbiano, Malvasia, Ciliegiolo and Merlot, from which are obtained appreciated wines of Tuscan tradition, such as Chianti, Bianco Pisano di San Torpè, Vin Santo, Colli Etruria Centrale and the typical red and white mono-vineyard.
Walking through the village, you can see the old wooden doors of the funds, custodians of unexpected local that branch in underground tunnels, where are located cellars for fermentation and aging of wine, time ago also used as a place of conservation of oil, fruit, meats and cheeses. Fascinating, almost like museums, exhibiting the working tools of the past: wooden casks and barrels, brass ebulliometers to measure the alcoholic degree of the wine, wine presses, demijohns and flasks, all testifying the long wine tradition. Inside of the same, or in separate rooms, there are the "strettoie" (bottlenecks), equipped premises with a kind of "mill" for the wine pressing before fermentation and a wine press for pressing the grape pomaces during the wine racking.
Several cellars are no longer used although, even today, are rich of a very old rural charm and witnesses of anecdotes of the past: their walls, at the time of the Second World War, during the air strikes and the incursions by land, have represented a shelter for the inhabitants of the village and the many refugees from the neighboring areas. It is not a case that Livorno and Pisa, historically rivals to each other, have found an agreement since then... at least on the common appreciation of Rivalto's wine, by returning to the village after the war to stock up of wine bottles and bowls of oil.
During the war, between the barrels and vats, people slept huddled and close, hoping the night would pass quickly and without unpleasant surprises. Some rivaltini tell that to escape to the Germans roundups and raids, have used the vats as a safe hiding place for humans and ham. In the largest country winery, the Cortesi's cellar, right in between the wine barrels, behind a white bed linen, in 1943 was born a child of Rivalto. Precisely in this cellar there has been a heavy raid by the Germans, but for further details on the war memories, please refer to the section Memories of War.
During the war, between the barrels and vats, people slept huddled and close, hoping the night would pass quickly and without unpleasant surprises. Some rivaltini tell that to escape to the Germans roundups and raids, have used the vats as a safe hiding place for humans and ham. In the largest country winery, the Cortesi's cellar, right in between the wine barrels, behind a white bed linen, in 1943 was born a child of Rivalto. Precisely in this cellar there has been a heavy raid by the Germans, but for further details on the war memories, please refer to the section Memories of War.
With all different mood, we remember the experiences of everyday life in the cellars, when people went to work, catching the meeting opportunities, recreation and socialization, also facilitated by a sincere glass of wine. After pressing the grapes, for example, by climbing on the scaleo (little wooden stair) with filled barrels of wine on the shoulders, people was usual to mark each new racking of wine with a little sign on the tun by a chalk -still appreciable the traces- and sometimes by drinking a glass of wine... at the end of the work the effect was soon imaginable, considering that at those times, the wine production was plentiful.
On the occasion of the first sales of wine casks, wine-producers organized "la cesta" (the basket), a welcome meal for buyers. These days were a time of feasting and celebration because they represented the first income after the efforts and expenses for the cultivation, the copper giving and the grape harvest.
Among the main productions, in addition to the cellar Cortesi, we remember those of Falugi, of the Del Lucchese and of Gotti, the latter also mentioned among the wholesalers of wine of the Province of Pisa in the encyclopedic wine guide "Wines of Italy", Publishing Cosimo Verona 1962.
But the cellars, at that time, have also attracted a few imprudent of turn and today the rivaltini still remember when, from the Cortesi's cellar through the vents that overlook the garden of their villa, some hams were stolen.
Today the vendemmia (grape harvest) is supported by work tools more evolved than a time: transport of the tractor, mechanical methods of stemming and crushing and, in adding to the ancient barrels, are used steel vats with control systems which allow to obtain the maximum qualitative yield from the grapes. But always they remain the experienced fundamental touch of the wine-producers and the refining and aging by the wooden barrels, expertly built by masters of barrels of once.
Also the italian poet Giovanni Pascoli, teacher at the High School of Livorno between the years 1887 and 1895, in an essay for the wedding of his sister Ida, dedicated some verses to the wine of Rivalto, appreciate during his stay in the village in 1894, guest of Giacinto Cortesi, father of Ugo Cortesi, then a student of the poet:
"...vino che il vetro spruzza ed impallina
scendendo rauco rivolo dall'alto,
purpureo della tua verde collina
figlio, Rivalto"
Giovanni Pascoli (In The Marriage of Ida, September 30, 1895)