The castle’s origins of “Sant’Andrea di Suasa” date back to about 1500 years ago, after the destruction of the ancient city of “Suasa” by Alaric, king of the Visigoths in 409 a.d.
After that event, the surviving population withdrew into the hills along the valley of the river “Cesano” and over time gave rise to same villages and castles, including that of “Sant’Andrea di Suasa”. Indeed, the original name was “Castrum Sancti Andreae”, and around the years 1100 a.d., it born thanks to the work of the benedictine monks, who formed a part of these people and they built the castle walls to give them protection.
It is precisely in this historical context, marked by a succession of wars, sieges and famines, but also flourishing and constructive periods that were laid the foundations of the noble art of viticulure.
Although to the Roman Empire spect primarily the merit of having introduced the basics, then from the second century a.d. it was the object of a slow scaling up to progressively starting again from the tenth century, when the spread of Christianity and the new religious symbolism, that tied the wine to the sacrifice of holy mass, it determined the rebirth.
Especially in this period viticulture was strongly encouraged for merit of the spread of the monastic orders, especially that of the benedictines, that pledged to fulfill vineyards to their convents.
Just as evidence of their important role in the history of “Sant’Andrea di Suasa”, the old convent remains still visible in the centre of the castle. Thanks to their efforts, began a period of prosperity for the village which became,over the centuries, home to a thriving agricultural and commercial activity, arising from the cultivation of fertile lands around the castle.
Despite the passage of time, tanks to the love for the land of later generations, their commitment and their sacrifice, this agricultural tradition has been perserved unchanged untill nowadays, leaving unchanged surrounding agricultural territory, protecting it from the industrialization of modern time, keeping it as “a small world suspended in time”.