Donnafugata: The Rallo Family’s Legacy

Sicily’s transformation from a region associated mainly with volume and fortified wine is due to the efforts of several key pioneering producers such as the Rallo family, writes Marisa D’Vari

For the past few years, Sicily has been one of the most exciting wine regions to watch, its wines increasingly visible in premium wine shops and on serious restaurant lists around the world. Yet this reputation is relatively recent. For much of the 20th century, Sicily was better known for Marsala and for producing large quantities of wine, much of it destined for blending, than for distinctive dry wines carrying a strong sense of place. Its transformation into a region celebrated for native grape varieties, diverse terroirs and world-class wines was driven by a number of pioneering producers and families who believed Sicily could aspire to much more. Among them was the Rallo family, whose roots in the island’s wine trade stretch back to 1851 and the historic Marsala business.

I recently reconnected with José Rallo here in New York City. She is the daughter of Donnafugata’s founders, Giacomo Rallo and Gabriella Anca Rallo, and is now in charge of the winery along with her brother Antonio Rallo. José and I first met in Sicily during Sicilia en Primeur, the annual wine event where producers showcase their latest vintages. So, a few years later, it was a pleasure to be among the wine journalists invited to a dinner she hosted at Tucci restaurant in Manhattan to present her family’s Donnafugata winery and their very important story.

As a long-time wine journalist, I’ve sat through many such presentations. What struck me about José’s was the realisation of how a relatively small group of families, such as hers’ had helped change the fortunes and international image of this historic wine region. I had also long admired the beauty and whimsy of Donnafugata’s colourful labels without fully considering the history, selfsacrifice and sense of purpose that inspired them.

To understand the Donnafugata winery, it is important to start with its labels. Every Donnafugata label is distinctive, with vibrant colours, dreamlike imagery and recurring female figures that immediately draw the eye. Instead of simply decorating the bottle, they invite consumers to pause, pick it up and ask a simple question: “What’s the story behind this wine?”

As José described the inspiration behind the labels, I realised she was describing a philosophy that shaped not just Donnafugata, but also the way the world now views Sicilian wine. The Rallo name was already wellknown in Sicily by the time Giacomo Rallo took over. The family had been involved in wine and Marsala production since 1851, and were amongst the first Sicilian families to enter a trade the English had long dominated. By the 1960s, however, Marsala’s once-glorious export era was fading. Working in exports, Giacomo recognised the risk to his family’s traditional business. At the same time he realised that Sicily’s soils, climate and native grape varieties had the potential to produce serious dry wines.

His vision found the perfect partner in his wife, Gabriella, whose family owned vineyards in what is now the Contessa Entellina DOC in western Sicily. When Gabriella inherited the Contessa Entellina estate, including 40 hectares of vineyards, from her father, the plan to produce premium dry wines was set in motion.

Rather than pursuing the high yields then common across much of Sicily, Gabriella focused on quality. She carefully studied the vineyards, analyzing soils, elevations and grape varieties to determine which combinations could best express the unique character of the territory. This approach reflected a broader change beginning to take place on the island. A new generation of Sicilian producers was questioning the emphasis on quantity and looking instead towards lower yields, better vineyard management, native varieties and wines that could express their origins.

In 1983, Giacomo and Gabriella founded Donnafugata. Producing high-quality wine from vineyards they had spent years preparing was not the only challenge. Equally important was persuading the world to see Sicily as a quality wine region.

A teacher by profession, Gabriella understood instinctively that people often connect with stories before they connect with facts. She believed great wines deserved a compelling identity that could communicate something about both the winery and Sicily itself.

During the dinner, José explained that her mother wanted someone browsing in a wine shop to pause in front of a Donnafugata bottle, become intrigued by its artwork, pick it up and wonder, “What’s the story behind this wine?” That philosophy became one of Donnafugata’s defining characteristics and helped distinguish the winery in an increasingly competitive international market.

In 1994, Gabriella began working with illustrator Stefano Vitale. The first artist designed label, La Fuga, established the visual language which has since become closely associated with Donnafugata. At a time when Sicilian wine was seeking a new identity abroad, the labels presented an image of the island that was colourful, sophisticated, imaginative and unmistakably Mediterranean.

The name Donnafugata, literally translated as “woman on the run” or “fleeing woman”, has its origins in Sicilian history and literature. According to the winery, Gabriella chose the name after encountering it in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, “The Leopard”, rooting the winery firmly in Sicily’s literary and cultural heritage. In the winery’s telling, it alludes to Queen Maria Carolina, wife of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who fled Naples and found refuge in western Sicily. The recurring female figures on Donnafugata’s labels evoke imagination, freedom, curiosity and t Donnafugata wine bottles are known for their distinctive, ransformation. Long before the cork is pulled, they invite consumers into a story. And the connection with Gabriella is not merely symbolic. Donnafugata says explicitly that the wind-blown female face used as its logo was inspired by Gabriella herself – the “woman on the run” who left her earlier life as a language teacher to devote herself to wine.

Gabriella had been born at a time in Sicily when daughters were generally expected to run households rather than wineries. As a young woman, she had taken up the traditionally acceptable profession of teaching. She later left teaching to work full-time at Donnafugata, managing the estate as well as its communications and public relations.

Her contribution went well beyond communication. Gabriella became part of a much larger change taking place in Sicilian wine – a move away from convention and quantity towards ambition, identity and a renewed confidence in what the island could produce.

The New Chapter
More than four decades after its founding, Donnafugata remains a family business, but its geographical reach has expanded far beyond its original vineyards at Contessa Entellina. Its portfolio now includes wines from several of Sicily’s most distinctive regions, including the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna, the island of Pantelleria and Vittoria in south-eastern Sicily. Each expresses a different aspect of Sicily, demonstrating the remarkable diversity of the island’s terroir, which was far less widely appreciated internationally when Giacomo and Gabriella began.

Sicily is not a single wine region but an extraordinarily varied one of different climates, soils, elevations and grape varieties. The portfolio built on this foundation is wide-ranging. Anthìlia, the winery’s widely distributed white, helped introduce many consumers to contemporary Sicilian wine. It is crisp, citrus-bright and created for easy drinking at an affordable price point, based principally on Catarratto, together with other varieties. Mille e una Notte, a blend centred on Nero d’Avola created by Giacomo Rallo with celebrated oenologist Giacomo Tachis, is one of Donnafugata’s flagship reds and demonstrates the ambitions possible for Sicily’s native varieties. Sedàra, another Nero d’Avoladriven red, highlights the house’s reputation for structure and elegance. More recently, Fragore, made from Nerello Mascalese grown on the volcanic soils of Etna, one of Sicily’s most dynamic wine territories, reflects Donnafugata’s expansion and is one of its newer signature names. Ben Ryé, its celebrated Passito di Pantelleria made from Zibibbo, is regularly ranked among Italy’s finest dessert wines, prized for its notes of apricot and honey.

The same instinct for combining wine with image and culture continues in exploring partnerships through Donnafugata’s collaborations. Among the most visible has been its partnership with Italian fashion house Dolce&Gabbana, a brand whose identity is closely associated with Sicily. The collaboration began in 2020 with Rosa and subsequently expanded to other wines.

Its latest addition is Bollicina Gold, a Metodo Classico Brut Rosé made from Nerello Mascalese grown on Etna. Beyond the glamour of the collaboration, there is a clear connection with Gabriella’s original idea: that Sicilian wine could communicate its origins not only through what was in the bottle, but through art, design and storytelling. “The shared objective was to create wines that could express Sicily through a contemporary language, bringing together quality, craftsmanship, creativity and a strong sense of place,” says Antonio.

Today, José and Antonio continue to explore the island’s diverse wine regions, from Etna to Vittoria, and the sixth generation is already part of the business. Gabriella Favara joined Donnafugata in 2022 after studying and working in brand management in the food sector.

Donnafugata was not alone in changing Sicilian wine. Its rise formed part of a broader renaissance led by producers who recognised that an island long associated with volume and fortified wine possessed the vineyards, indigenous grapes and regional diversity to compete at the highest level.

What distinguished Donnafugata was the way the Rallo family combined that belief in quality with an equally powerful understanding of identity. Giacomo saw the potential for serious dry wines; Gabriella understood that those wines also needed a voice and an image capable of making the wider world stop and take notice.

Perhaps that is why the “woman in flight” remains such an apt symbol. It began as a name rooted in Sicilian history and literature and became the visual signature of a winery. In Gabriella’s case, the metaphor became strikingly literal: Donnafugata itself identifies her with the windblown woman who left one life behind to embark on another in wine. But it can also be read as a metaphor for something larger: a family – and an island – breaking with expectations and setting out in a new direction.

For wine lovers today, Donnafugata’s story is therefore about more than the success of one winery. It is one chapter in the remarkable reinvention of Sicilian wine itself.