Byzantine New Year: Marisa Cuomo awarded the title of Magistra of Amalfi Civilization. “I share this recognition with the many reckless farmers of the Amalfi Coast”
With Marisa Cuomo a woman like the one imprinted on the historic banner of Amalfi is celebrated
On the day of the Byzantine New Year, Amalfi crowns Marisa Cuomo. The woman of wine of the Amalfi Coast was awarded yesterday the title of "Magistra di Civiltà Amalfitana". The second woman ever to receive the recognition that this year was named after Giovanni Punzo, a small landowner, who in the will dictated at the age of one hundred, left to the monastery of SS. Ciriaco and Giulitta of Atrani a "petia de vinea sita nella località Fusculo, presso il Castello di Lettere".
During the solemn investiture, Marisa Cuomo received the stole, made for the occasion with the colors that distinguished the clothes of the Byzantine ducisse, after having read the formula in Latin. All this in the presence of the archbishop, mons. Orazio Soricelli and the mayors of Amalfi, Daniele Milano, and Atrani, Luciano De Rosa Laderchi who, together with the award commission, awarded her the recognition with this motivation: “Committed, like other innovative entrepreneurs, to promoting the flavours and typical products of the territory, she has recovered and re-proposed, in compliance with traditions, the inebriating and identifying aromas of the wines produced, ab antiquo, in the terraced vineyards of the Amalfi Coast, an icon and guardian of a rural landscape that is a world heritage site”. The stole, this time too, was placed on the shoulders of a woman: the councilor Enza Cobalto who strongly wanted this recognition to be attributed to women too.
“I want to share this recognition with the many reckless farmers who work on small plots of land torn from the rock and cultivated with ancient love, sentinels against ruin and abandonment. I thank my husband, my children, our wine consultant Luigi Moio who helped us rediscover ancient, centuries-old vines that populate our beloved land and that today make our wines the excellence of the territory. I cannot help but remember my brother-in-law, Raffaele Ferraioli, a supporter of the birth of the DOC Costa d'Amalfi, of the Cities of Wine and more. To him, applause up there for the cultural heritage he left us. To all of you goes my thanks and my eternal gratitude" said the new Magista of Civiltà Amalfitana at the end of the investiture held in front of the palatine church of San Salvatore de Birecto. The same one in which in medieval times the Dukes of Amalfi were crowned. And so it was. After the appointment of the Magistra, the historical procession of Amalfi, preceded by the flag-wavers of Cava, reached the steps of the Amalfi Cathedral where Marisa Cuomo presented herself to the square crowded with citizens and tourists.”
“In this year's choice – declared the Mayor of Amalfi, Daniele Milano – we focused on a personality who fully represented the medieval excellence of Amalfi. The Amalfitans were excellent sailors but above all excellent merchants. And this is why we wanted to reward an entrepreneur, a farmer and at the same time – dedicating this year's edition to the historical rural landscape – to all those we like to call heroic farmers, reckless farmers, who with their hands take care of the landscape of the Coast. And this, of the rural landscape is a path that we are very passionate about so much so that in 2018 that of Amalfi was registered in the national register of historic rural landscapes and today competes for the international recognition GIAHS for agricultural traditions of global importance, established by the FAO. With Marisa Cuomo we celebrate great entrepreneurship, those who take care of the territory and we celebrate a woman like the one who is imprinted on the historic banner of the city, recently restored and which depicts the city of Amalfi”.
And last night, during a public interview, the new “ducissa“ of Amalfi spoke not without a hint of emotion about the adventure of producing extreme wines from grapes grown along handkerchiefs clinging to the rocks. Also on that occasion her thanks, in addition to that visionary politician Raffaele Ferraioli, went to her husband Andrea and to that handful of men and women who, with their work as heroic farmers, have allowed the wines of the Furore company to be among the most renowned in the world.
"Even this year – declared the Mayor of Atrani, Luciano De Rosa Laderchi – we have focused on the defense of the territory. Because the fragility of the Amalfi Coast is there for all to see. Last year we chose the direct route by appointing as magister the head of the civil protection of the Campania Region who has done so much to protect the territory. This year we have gone through the guardian angels of this territory, because the farmers represent this with their immense and tiring work. And Mrs. Marisa Cuomo, a farmer and entrepreneur as she presented herself during the public interview, is an authentic expression of this segment of excellence”.
The 22nd edition of the Byzantine New Year ended with a fire show by the “Opera Fiammae” company, which created a unique atmosphere with plays of light and flames at the foot of the steps of the cathedral.
THE MAGISTER 2022
Marisa Cuomo, the woman of wine on the Amalfi Coast, has been leading the family business in Furore since 1982, which has become one of the most highly regarded brands on an international level. The first woman to work in viticulture, dividing her time between her family, the terraces dug into the sides of the rocks and the suggestive cellar where quality has always been the focus, a highly distinctive element in the panorama of Italian winemaking, Marisa Cuomo is considered one of the pioneers of the great winemaking revolution on the Amalfi Coast that led the area to obtain the controlled designation of origin for its wines in 1995. And so, in the year in which Amalfi dedicates the twenty-second edition of the event to the Historical Rural Landscape, the prestigious recognition was awarded to a lady of local entrepreneurship.
Ambassador of the goodness of the Amalfi Coast with her nectars produced from grapes from native vines and all strictly ungrafted, the entrepreneur from Furore boasts a remarkable series of awards given over the years to her wines, all with a unique and extraordinary flavor.
It was her husband who catapulted her into this adventure, which initially seemed like a gamble, who, instead of a diamond, decided to give her as a wedding gift, a cellar purchased in 1980 in Furore, a place where sea, earth and rock combined with sun and wind seem to support the grapes that grow on heroic terraced crops. And today Marisa Cuomo, 59 years old, is the leader of a handful of women and men who contribute on the one hand with their work to the creation of authentic wine jewels, and on the other to revitalize the noble work in the land not only in small Furore. They are those that Marisa calls "reckless farmers" and not to boast about their acrobatic skills, but to highlight how much sweat and effort those who, among the hanging gardens of the Coast, grow vines and lemons, put in. The recognition to Marisa Cuomo was therefore a tribute to the entire agricultural sector and to the heroic action of the farmers to whom Amalfi looks with attention having declared itself ready to defend and protect this heritage since 2018, when as the first and only territory in the Campania region it was registered in the "National Register of Rural Landscapes of Historical Interest" of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food, Forestry and Tourism Policies. A wine artisan for 41 years, Marisa Cuomo is the second woman to have received the prestigious recognition.
THE HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE NEW YEAR
The Byzantine New Year is organized by the Municipality of Amalfi in collaboration with the Municipality of Atrani and the Amalfi Culture and History Center.
Born from an idea of the medievalist Giuseppe Gargano from Amalfi around 1980, the Byzantine New Year focuses on the reenactment of the beginning of the fiscal and legal year in the territories of the Eastern Empire, which corresponded to September 1st, the day on which the comites, that is, the leaders of the maritime republic of Amalfi in its aristocratic phase, took office. A practice in vogue from the year 839, the birth of the autonomous republic, to the first part of the 1266th century, and then resumed with the institution of the annual election of the representatives of the Universities of the Amalfi Coast in 1999, in the Angevin era, and continued until the Bourbons. Since its planning phase, the event has involved the municipalities of Amalfi and Atrani, the only civitates of the Amalfi Republic at least until the middle of the 2010th century; main theater of the re-enactment, the church of S. Salvatore de Birecto in Atrani, palatine chapel and site of the coronation of the Dukes of Amalfi, then a place of public meetings of the mayors of the Universities. The first edition of the Byzantine New Year, created thanks to a happy intuition of the tourism councilor of the time Antonio Bottiglieri, took place in 2012 and has continued until today with a single break, which occurred in XNUMX, which marked a change of pace and a turning point in its history. If in the early years, in fact, the focus of the event was centered on the themes of law and jurisprudence, with the highlight being the assignment of the title of "Duke of Amalfi - Master of Law" to prominent names in the world of jurisprudence, including Giovanni Conso and Sabino Cassese, since XNUMX it has been decided to broaden the scope to the personalities who have given prestige to the history of Amalfi with the investiture of the "Magister di Civiltà Amalfitana".
THE TITLE OF MAGISTER
The title of Magister of Amalfi Civilization is assigned each year to a personality, from Amalfi by origin or by adoption, who has distinguished himself for particular merits in a sector of medieval Amalfi civilization, from entrepreneurship to politics, from science to seafaring, who they find a melting point in the invention of the compass, from art to religion, from the right to solidarity and diplomacy. Fields where the greatness of Amalfi has taught.
Article published on 2 September 2022 - 15:52
