Naming and Packaging Design
In Ripatransone, there’s a place where the wind never stops blowing: Piazza XX Settembre. Eternally restless, it blows and spreads into adjacent squares. The reason for all this restlessness is its unavailing wait for a friend. Legend has it that in this square, the Wind met the Devil and invited him to go and drink a glass of Marche Rosso IGT together. The Devil agreed but told the Wind that first he had to attend to a matter at the Town Hall. A matter that never ended, as the Devil liked being at Palazzo. And that’s why the Wind is still there today, waiting in vain for that unaccomplished toast.
Pour a glass of Mercantino Offida Pecorino DOCG, put your ear to the glass and close your eyes for a moment. Can you hear it? It is the murmur of the audience excitedly awaiting the exhibition of the famous Luigi Mercantini. Yes, you’re at the theatre, surrounded by a colourful auditorium of the fourteenth-century Palazzo del Podestà in Ripatransone, which took the poet’s name in 1894. This bottle is its stage and it’s now time for it to take its place: the show is about to begin.
A thick mane and gaze that bravely guard the keys to the city. It is the Ripano lion, the symbol of Ripatransone: the loyal guide that accompanies us while exploring the five hills of Belvedere, Monte Antico, Capodimonte, Roflano and Agello. It is said that drinking a single glass of Offida Rosso DOCG makes you become part of his epic courage. He is always generous and wise, but woe betide anyone who crosses him. Because only his friends see Leo Ripano’s human side.
Under the window of his native home, the whole town gathers together: we’re in Piazza Condivi, toasting with a good glass of Condivio Offida Pecorino DOCG, the only white of the family, aged in barrels – the result of a careful selection of pecorino grapes, thanks to the great Ascanio Condivi. He was once a painter and a sculptor, a pupil of the unparalleled Michelangelo. Today, at the start of the Octave of Easter, his spirit is part in the celebration while awaiting the arrival of the blazing Fire Horse, as the sky above the roof of his house lights up bright as day over Ripatransone.
They say that fortune favours the brave. But misfortune cheers the spirit. It couldn’t be any other way when serving a round of Offida Passerina DOCG. It’s an honest wine, it speaks how it drinks, in dialect. Its name is Agello, like the district of Ripatransone, like one of the city’s castles and like one of the five peaks depicted on the coat of arms. The cat? Don’t worry. He meows a lot, but does not bite.
“If you want to enter Ripatransone, only the Castellan can let you pass.” It is said that in the past, to protect one of the city gates, a knight would forever memorise the face of anyone passing through, distinguishing whether they had good or bad intentions at a mere glance. Benevolent, but dressed in shining armour, he bravely defended the town: his name is Transone from the Latin verb ‘transire’, which means to cross or enter. For friends today, it is Castellano, with this Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC.
Naming and Packaging Design
