Summary
Cielo e Terra, based in Montorso Vicentino in the province of Vicenza, is one of the largest and internationally best-known wine houses in the Veneto. What began in 1908 as a small family farm is today a company selling well over 30 million bottles a year – and it does so through a structure you rarely find elsewhere: since 1999 the Cielo family has operated under one roof with the growers' cooperative Cantine dei Colli Berici. The name says it all: Cielo stands for the family, Terra for the growers who work the land. The house is known above all for approachable, fruit-forward wines – Freschello first among them – and for its Prosecco.
History
The story starts in 1908, when Giovanni Cielo bought a small farm with vineyards in the countryside west of Vicenza – not far from the two castles at Montecchio Maggiore that are popularly known as the Castles of Romeo and Juliet. Over the generations, the farm turned into a wine house.
The decisive leap came with the second and third generations: from 1962, Piero Cielo and his three sons Giovanni, Renzo and Piergiorgio built a modern cellar in Montorso Vicentino, which allowed the house to distribute nationwide for the first time. Over the following decades, Cielo grew into one of Italy's widest-reaching wine marketers.
The second turning point came in 1999. After years of sales cooperation, the Cielo family firm and the Cantine dei Colli Berici cooperative, founded in 1951, joined forces – and the two houses became Cielo e Terra. The aim was a fairer and more stable value chain: the growers gained reliable sales, the wine house a secure supply of grapes. In 2010 the cooperative became part of the larger Collis Veneto Wine Group, which also includes producers around Verona. In 2021 the company acquired Villa La Favorita, a Palladian-style country house, making it the headquarters and a place to receive guests. Today Luca and Pierpaolo Cielo lead the house in the fourth generation.
Location & Terroir
Montorso Vicentino lies in the Val d'Agno west of Vicenza, between the Colli Berici to the south and the Monti Lessini to the north. Geologically the area is remarkably varied: the Colli Berici are an isolated limestone massif with embedded volcanic rock, while further east and north – towards Gambellara and Soave – volcanic basalt dominates. It is precisely these soils that give Garganega its saline freshness and its typical almond-scented finish.
On the alluvial plains between the hills ripen the varieties for the high-volume lines: Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet. From the Verona area, that is from the Valpolicella zone, come the Corvina and Rondinella for Ripasso and Amarone wines. The climate is temperate continental, moderated by Lake Garda to the west and sheltered by the pre-Alps to the north.
Style & Philosophy
Cielo e Terra does not follow a single-vineyard approach but a brand approach: every target audience and price point has its own label, and behind each one sits a clearly defined style. What all the lines share is very clean, technically precise cellar work with early drinkability, moderate extraction and plenty of fruit. Reductive white winemaking at controlled temperatures is the standard; wood plays a role only in the upper tiers.
The second pillar is sustainability – and here the house goes further than most producers of this scale. Cielo e Terra is certified as a B Corporation, a standard that measures a company's environmental, social and governance performance, and it also holds the Italian viticultural certification VIVA. That follows the logic of the merger: when the growers are co-owners, long-term thinking in the vineyard pays off.
Notable Sites & Wines
The portfolio is organised by brand:
- Freschello – the house's best-known line: light, uncomplicated white, rosé and red wines, on the market for more than three decades
- Bericanto – the Prosecco brand born from the collaboration with the growers of the Vicenza area, named after the limestone of the Berici hills
- Cielo 1908 – the historic family brand, with still, frizzante and sparkling wines
- Casa Defrà – wines from the heartland of the Colli Berici
- Baccolo, Gran Passaia and De Conti – richer reds in the appassimento style, partly from the Valpolicella zone
- 3 Passo and Maestro – ranges from central and southern Italy, including Primitivo and Negroamaro
- Pradio – a family estate in Friuli
- Bella Storia – organic wines, part of whose proceeds go to social and environmental projects
Great single vineyards in the classic sense play no role here: origin is communicated through the appellation – Prosecco DOC, Colli Berici DOC, delle Venezie DOC, Valpolicella Ripasso DOC and Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG.
Awards
The house's sparkling wines perform consistently well at international competitions. The Bericanto Prosecco DOC Brut scored 87 points at the Falstaff Prosecco Trophy 2021; at the Sommeliers Choice Awards 2021, both the Bericanto Prosecco Spumante and the Cielo Prosecco Spumante DOC took silver. Beyond individual medals, though, the sustainability record carries more weight: the B Corp certification, first achieved in 2020 and renewed in 2025, makes Cielo e Terra one of the few Italian wine companies to hold this credential.