Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti passed away on Wednesday, November 5, in Torgiano. She was the wife of Giorgio Lungarotti—founder of the namesake winery and father of modern Umbrian winemaking—and mother of Chiara Lungarotti and Teresa and Giuseppe Severini. With her passing, Umbria loses one of its most enlightened figures: a woman who intertwined business, culture, and territory into a single vision, transforming wine and olive oil into instruments of knowledge and beauty.
This is what Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti leaves behind: a legacy that goes far beyond wine. A true heritage, composed of something ineffable yet tangible—culture, beauty, and vision.
A woman of extraordinary intellectual refinement, she graduated in Literature and Art History in the 1950s and, throughout her long life, looked well beyond the productive dimension of wine, perceiving the real potential behind every glass: that point of convergence where a millennia-old story synthesizes the registers of popular rural civilization and the lofty realms of fine art.
From this awareness, her dream was born: to create a collection that would narrate wine as a universal culture. Passionate about museography and museology, Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti was among the first to believe in hospitality and welcoming—a pioneer of wine tourism in Italy, as demonstrated by the history of the Wine Museum of Torgiano.
Farewell to the Mother of MUVIT, Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti
Looking beyond wine to reveal its deepest soul: this was Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti’s great vision. In 1974, together with her husband Giorgio, she founded the Wine Museum of Torgiano (MUVIT), described by The New York Times as “the most beautiful in Italy.”
A unique place housed in the monumental Palazzo Graziani-Baglioni, where over 3,000 artifacts narrate the millennial dialogue between wine, art, and civilization—a journey spanning from the 3rd millennium BC to the contemporary age, with works and objects that testify to wine’s role in human life and collective imagination.
In 2000, her vision expanded with the creation of the Olive and Oil Museum (MOO), carved out of an ancient mill and medieval dwellings in Torgiano: 11 rooms illustrating the history, symbolism, and production techniques of the “green gold,” with an archaeological section and a collection of lamps that tell the story of oil as light, from the Nuragic age to Neoclassicism.
A Legacy That Goes Beyond Wine
In 1987, Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti and her husband Giorgio established the Lungarotti Foundation Onlus, which for nearly 40 years has promoted the culture of wine and oil, preserving and enhancing the artistic heritage and traditional crafts of Umbria.
But her commitment to Umbria was never limited to the wine sector. Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti was a central figure in the cultural scene and in supporting initiatives across all fields—from art to civic engagement.
So much so that the tribute from Stefania Proietti, President of the Umbria Region, was immediate:
“With the passing of Maria Grazia Lungarotti, we lose an extraordinary woman. Her name will forever be linked to wine, oil, and the uniquely Umbrian ability to transform tradition into universal value.”
Alongside the grief of her family and all of Umbria comes WineCouture’s heartfelt condolences, as we bid farewell to the woman who, by turning wine into culture, left an indelible mark on Italian history.
