A Sicilian wine family unveils a Wagner manuscript after 140 years in private hands

A manuscript by Richard Wagner that has remained in the hands of Sicily’s Tasca d’Almerita family for more than 140 years has become the center of a new documentary and music project that ties the composer’s time in Palermo to a present-day wine release.

The initiative focuses on Wagner’s 1881 stay at Villa Tasca, the family’s historic residence between Palermo and Monreale. During that visit, which came late in the German composer’s life, Wagner completed the orchestration of “Parsifal,” his final major work, according to accounts preserved by the family and widely cited in the history of the villa. Wagner died the following year in Venice.

The project, presented by Tasca d’Almerita, brings that history into the present through “The Wagner Gift,” a short documentary produced by JustMaria and directed by Alessandro Albanese and Andrea Tomarchio. The film follows German electronic musicians Boris Steffen and Gregor Schönborn as they study and reinterpret an original Wagner score that the family says was given to Countess Tasca as a sign of gratitude during the composer’s Sicilian stay.

That score is “Tempo di Porazzi,” described by the family as Wagner’s last melody. The title refers to Porazzi, an area of Palermo. The original manuscript has been kept by the Tasca family since the 19th century. In the new project, Alessandro Tasca, grandson of Sicilian wine figure Lucio Tasca, decided to make the document part of a public artistic work rather than leave it in private storage.

Steffen and Schönborn were invited to Tenuta Regaleali, the family’s estate in Sclafani Bagni, in central Sicily, where they spent several days working on a new composition based on the manuscript. Part of the estate was turned into a temporary studio, and the process was documented on film before ending in a live performance at Cozzo delle Ginestre, a hill within the property.

The documentary is also linked to the debut of “Lucio Pensiero,” a new Terre Siciliane IGT 2022 red wine dedicated to Lucio Tasca, one of the leading figures in modern Sicilian wine. The winery says the project was conceived as a tribute to his vision and to the broader idea of cultural inheritance passing from one generation to another.

According to Tasca d’Almerita, the wine is made from Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The company says it is meant to reflect Lucio Tasca’s decision in the 1980s to introduce international grape varieties at Regaleali, a move that helped shape the estate’s modern identity alongside its work with native Sicilian grapes.

The release connects two different moments in the family’s history. The first is Wagner’s stay at Villa Tasca in the late 19th century, when the residence was part of Palermo’s cultural and social life. The second is the transformation of Regaleali into one of the best-known wine estates in Sicily under Lucio Tasca and later generations.

Historical accounts tied to the villa say Wagner was drawn to the calm of the property while traveling in southern Italy for health reasons and because of his strong attachment to the country. Family accounts also say the landscape of Villa Tasca, including a small lake with swans, left a mark on the composer while he was finishing “Parsifal.” That connection later inspired the name of another Tasca d’Almerita wine, Cygnus, a Sicilia DOC blend of Nero d’Avola and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Villa Tasca remains an important part of the story the family is telling. The residence is recognized in Italy as a historic home and is included among the country’s notable gardens. Over time, it has been associated with other prominent visitors, including Giuseppe Verdi, Otto von Bismarck and Jacqueline Kennedy, according to the family’s historical record.

By centering the new project on an original score rather than on a staged historical reenactment, the filmmakers and musicians appear to be aiming for a more contemporary interpretation of Wagner’s Sicilian connection. The documentary follows that process closely, from the arrival of the two German artists at Regaleali to the final performance built around their electronic reworking of the manuscript.

The company has framed the project as part of a larger effort to connect wine, place and cultural memory. That approach has become more common among heritage wine producers seeking to go beyond traditional branding by tying products to archives, landscapes and family history. In this case, the archive item is unusually significant because it is linked to one of Europe’s best-known composers and to a documented stay in Sicily shortly before his death.

“Lucio Pensiero” was recently introduced in Rome at the auction house Pandolfini, the company said. Tasca d’Almerita also said that large-format bottles of the wine are scheduled to be sold at auction in November 2027.

The project arrives at a time when Sicily’s wine producers are increasingly presenting themselves not only as agricultural businesses but also as custodians of local history and cultural assets. Tasca d’Almerita, one of the island’s oldest wine families, has often taken that route in public events and storytelling, drawing on estates that include both vineyard land and historic buildings.

In this case, the company has used a private family document to create a public cultural event with international artists, linking German music history to Sicilian wine production through a place Wagner knew firsthand. The result is both a film and a product launch, built around a manuscript that remained out of public view for generations before being used again as the basis for a new performance.