Muscoline, il Garda, la Valténesi
Muscoline is a small municipality 10 km from the west coast of the Garda Lake, in between Salò and Desenzano. The glacially carved rolling hills of this area are bordered in the west by the lake and in the east by the Chiese river. This region is called Valtenesi, or “Vallis Atheniiensis” in older books. According to the legend a group of Greeks were running away from Athens, arrived in the region and found that the beauty and serenity of the place reminded them of their homeland. The names of the villages reflect this Greek influence; Manerba, small village on Garda Lake, comes from Minerva (Athena in Greece) and Moniga, a village close to Manerba, was a neighbourhood in the ancient city of Attica. The town of Muscoline has a dating back to at least Roman times. In that period there was a Roman road connected Brescia to the Lake and in “Castrezzone” (one hamlet of Muscoline) it is easy to recognize the latin word for military fortification. In Muscoline there are eleven different hamlets, and probably one of these gave its name to the entire village. As said before there was an important road running trough the hills and close to this road during the XV century borne a monastery of monks Carmelitani. Also today it is possible to admire the beautiful church, unfortunately damaged from the earthquake of 2005, which is dedicated to St. Quirico. The church is adorned with wall painting from the XV and XVI century, of “Giovanni da Ulma” and “Pittore da Solarolo”.The monastery was engaged in growing Muscat grapes and the production of wine of the same name. From an etymological perspective the distance from Muscat to Muscoline may be quite large, but we like to think that this is the origin of the name of our community. From a winemaking point of view, the Muscoline area is exceptional within Valtenesi. The higher altitude, heavier soil and remarkable range of temperature between day and night, make this land a good place to obtain aromatic white wines and robust red wines. At Cascina Belmonte, we are working with these natural conditions. Though we may take a different path from the rest of Valtenesi vineyards, at Cascina Belmonte we are working within a unique natural condition to produce our distinctive wines.