PETER FEMFERT – A LIFE BETWEEN REBIRTH, AVANT-GARDE AND THE SPIRIT OF MICHELANGELO
To walk among its vines today is to see more than rows of grapes: sculptures appear between the trellises, the sound of cicadas mingles with silence, and a history embedded deep in the soil seems to stir.
That this place has become a living Gesamtkunstwerk is inseparable from the life of Peter Femfert, a man shaped by rupture and renewal. Gallerist from Frankfurt, survivor of a plane crash, collector, adventurer, and lover of Italy – he found here a second home. Together with his wife, the Venetian historian Stefania Canali, he transformed Nittardi into a winery that stands not only for fine wine, but for the inseparable union of art and earth.
Peter Femfert was born in Saxony in 1945 – and his life might have ended early. In 1967, the plane he was traveling on crashed over Cyprus. There were 130 people on board; only four survived. Femfert was one of them. The experience left its mark: from then on, he spoke of having two birthdays. Out of this survival grew the unyielding intensity with which he has lived ever since.
In the 1970s, he founded Die Galerie in Frankfurt. From the outset, he made a statement: a graphic portfolio with works by Horst Janssen, Paul Wunderlich and others, each copy enriched by a unique piece from Friedensreich Hundertwasser. It was a daring and visionary idea, bridging edition and original – and it struck a chord. The entire run sold out within a short time, and the gallery was suddenly part of the conversation in the art world.
From then on, he devoted himself to his true passion. His love lay with Surrealism and the Cobra group. Works by Max Ernst, André Masson, Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel and Corneille shaped his program and found their way into important collections through him. Over the years, his network expanded; the gallery took part in international fairs in Brussels, London, New York, Miami and Seoul, where it even ran a branch for a time. Again and again Femfert provided loans to museums, ensuring that works of art remained visible in the public realm.
Yet while exhibitions and sales shaped the everyday life in Frankfurt, a second chapter began further south.
Together with Stefania Canali, he acquired the Italian estate of Nittardi, perched on a ridge within sight of Siena and Florence. Its history reaches back to 1183, but its aura stems from Michelangelo Buonarroti, who owned it in the 16th century.
Michelangelo was not only a painter, sculptor and architect; he also valued the significance of wine. While working on the Sistine Chapel, he wrote to his nephew Lionardo: „Two barrels of Nittardi wine are dearer to me than eight shirts“. From here, he sent wine to Rome as a gift to Pope Paul III – not as a luxury, but as a gesture of kinship and authenticity.
This connection between art and earth, inspiration and sustenance, can still be felt today. Nittardi is not simply an estate – it is a place that has carried art within itself for centuries.
ART IN THE WINE
When the Canali-Femfert family took over Nittardi, it was clear that this spirit must be both preserved and renewed. The cellar was modernized, the vineyards replanted, the old walls carefully restored. But beyond these practical tasks stood a vision: wine and art should remain inseparably linked, as in Michelangelo’s time.
Thus began the tradition of commissioning a new artist each year to design the label for the Casanuova di Nittardi. Over the decades, the series has become a chronicle of modern art: Hundertwasser, Yoko Ono, Günter Grass, Dario Fo, Allen Jones, Karl Otto Götz, Elvira Bach. Each year adds a new voice to the collection, each bottle a reminder that wine itself can carry art.
And Nittardi goes even further: on its grounds, nature and art meet directly. A sculpture garden unfolds among the vines, turning the landscape into an open-air exhibition.
Visitors experience how art need not remain in museums but can live in everyday life, in the countryside, in the vineyard.
Today the estate is carried forward by the next generation. Since 2013, Léon Femfert, the eldest son, has been fully responsible. After studying philosophy and wine management, and after gaining experience in France, Chile, the US and Germany, he returned to Nittardi. Under his guidance, the estate has been certified organic and has also achieved Equalitas certification, a seal for ecological, social and economic sustainability.
To truly experience Nittardi, one must take time. It is not a place to grasp in passing, but one to approach, to walk through, to taste. Here, good wine meets good conversation, history meets the present, art meets cuisine. Between the vines and sculptures, over dinner in the old farmhouse or a night in its historic rooms, unfolds a fragment of Italy that unites past, present and future. Nittardi is not a place for haste – it is a place for encounters, for exchange, and for what endures.
