What is truly fascinating about the Planeta family is that each component, even eighteen generations down, and five centuries later, plays an integral role in elevating the name and business. Each aspect from wine to hospitality has been squeezed like orange juice to ensure meticulous quality and innovation – and yet it still seems like there’s plenty of oranges left in the basket.

The story of Planeta begins in Menfi, southern Sicily, back in the seventeenth century with the acquisition of the first winery Ulmo. It was in 1994 however that the first bottles were filled. In the subsequent years, as Vito, Alessio, Santi and Francesca Planeta take the reigns, the business travels around Sicily grounding roots in a further four territories including Vittoria, Noto, Etna and Capo Milazzo searching for ways to bring back those native grapes that had long been forgotten. This is further enriched by cultural and artistic projects such as the introduction of “Un Viaggio in Sicilia”, an itinerant artist in residence programme as well as hospitality that kickstarted in 2008 with the opening of La Foresteria. 2015 marks an important year as the launch of Sciaranuova Festival, an annual edition that takes place over two-evenings in July of wine, nibbles and contemporary theatre. With the opening of Insula Beach Club last year and the restyling of La Segreta Country House this year, it is safe to say that the Planeta family business has truly evolved across all spectrums from Experiential to Cultural and Hospitality.

It is in fact this July 2024 that Planeta has launched a new project “Costellazione d’Arte” at the Buonivini winery in Noto curated by Vito Planeta jr, Art Historian and curator Valentina Bruschi and artist Ignazio Mortellaro. This concept seeks to merge together art and nature, local and international and showcasing Sicily through the world of creative installations, sculptures and works of art. Some of these were created during the artist in residency programme such as Emiliano Maggi’s sculptures I Canzonieri, within the wine cellar, others have been created for this very purpose; including thought-provoking words by Claire Fontaine Patriarchy = C02 or Petra Feriancova’s Vertebra. What Vito, Valentina and Ignazio have aspired to do is create a harmonious coexistence between wine and contemporary art.