Whilst Tony is still very much the driving force behind Boccaccio, he now has the help of his son's (we will give anyone a bottle of Grange if you can positively identify which twin is working!) and son-in-law.
Bruno is charge of all the back office at Boccaccio.
Franco who is a qualified wine-maker, is often found at the side of Peter Dredge from Red Edge during vintage, and if he is not plunging Pinot or topping Shiraz the you will find him on the floor at Boccaccio.
Anthony is the face of Boccaccio. With extensive knowledge and many free trips to far fetched wine regions (like the Tuscany, Rhone Valley and Porto), he is the Principal Wine Buyer and Cellarmaster for Boccaccio Cellars and is also in charge of Boccaccio's advertising and weekly e-newsletter. If he is not in the Clare Valley, then most likely you will find him curled up in a corner of the store, gazing in admiration of the latest red wine release from Jasper Hill, Grosset, Bass Phillip or Giaconda or the many other hard to get wines located on the fine wine racks of Boccaccio Cellars.
If you need to know anything about the Italian wines, Domenico is the man to see. He took his obsession to the extreme recently while in Tuscany trying to drink every known Chianti in a three day period. Whilst he succeeded in his Chianti exploits he failed dismally to convince those hard-headed Italian's that us Australians can produce super tuscan blends that are as good as the real thing!
Tony's youngest son Stefano is in charge of Boccaccio's IT department. Stef has had a passion for electronic commerce from a very early age, and made it known some time before Boccaccio's existence online that he planned to make an impact on the web. Now, with this third iteration, Stef has made that presence felt. If there is a technical hitch, blame him!
Our reisdent man behind the scene, packing all our orders is Frank Licatore. His Italian wife left him behind to go to Naples because he had to stay behind to feed the cat. Her loss is our's (and the cats') gain.
Why would wine merchants use the name Boccaccio?
Well, Boccaccio was born in a village called Certaldo, in the heart of the famous wine region, Tuscany. Throughout his life, wine was an integral part of his life and even when it was considered taboo by many Boccaccio in his writings used it as a metaphor to show not all things that are considered bad are bad and vice versa.
Who does not know that wine is a most excellent thing, if we may believe Cinciglione and Scolaio, while it is harmful to a man with a fever? Are we to say wine is wicked because it is bad for those who are feverish? Who does not know that fire is most useful and even necessary to mankind? And because it sometimes destroys houses, villages and towns, shall we say it is bad? Weapons defend the safety of those who wish to live in peace, but they also kill men, not through any wrong in them but through the wickedness of those who use them ill. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron,
Our family history has for generations been involved in food and wine. In Italy, we harvested grapes from our own vineyards and used wine as the basis on which we survived. Upon the families arrival to Australia, we chose the same path of food and wine and once again it encompasses everything we do in our lives.
Certaldo is commonly associated with Giovanni Boccaccio, the famous novelist, author of Il Decamerone, written in 1351. Boccaccio spent most of his life in Certaldo, where he also died, and in the Decamerone one can find a lot of references to places and people in and around Certaldo. To visit: The Palazzo Pretorio is the former government building with its stanza dei tormenti (torture-chamber) and its panoramic fortress tower. On the front and in the court one can admire the arms and heraldic figures of the vicari, the most beautiful being the items by the Della Robbia school. The Casa del Boccaccio shows where Boccaccio lived and has an important library based on the various editions and resources on the Decamerone. The church Santi Jacopo e Filippo, built in the 13th century, preserves the tombstone of Boccaccio and has some beautiful wall paintings of the 14th century.
Only nine years younger than Petrarch, Giovanni Boccacio (1313-1375) abandoned his early studies in accounting in favour of classical learning. While Dante had his Beatrice and Petrarch had his Laura, Boccaccio's romantic inspiration was the mysterious Fiammetta. Although Boccaccio wrote numerous works in both prose and poetry, as well as several scholarly and scientific works in Latin, he is best known for The Decameron. A collection of 100 short stories written between 1348 and 1353, The Decameron is set within the framework of a group of ten men and women who have taken refuge from the plague in a country villa outside Florence for ten days. Included within The Decameron is some of Boccaccio's best lyric poetry and both Shakespeare and Chaucer drew heavily on the work for structure and style.
