The property Eliza and Giovanni found in 2017 carried a long history and a great deal of silence. "An old estate once owned by a noble family and home to three farmer families under the traditional mezzadria sharecropping system, abandoned since the 1980s." No water or electricity, the roof collapsed in places, six hectares of land - including 3.5 under vines and about one hectare of olive groves and fruit trees - waiting for someone willing to start again. Slowly, with a small team and sustained manual work, they cleared the land and rebuilt the structures.

The first vintage came in 2018, vinified in a friend's cantina while they were still learning. Between 2019 and 2021 they continued there, refining their process harvest by harvest. In 2022, they converted a former pig stable on the property into their own cantina - the building where grapes now arrive at harvest, where the wines ferment and rest, and where guests step in for tastings.

The farm's history runs deeper than its visible layers. "Old Etruscan tombs below ground have been repurposed as cellars, allowing the wines to age in naturally cool, stable conditions that are both practical and evocative of the territory's ancient layers." The renovation above ground followed the same respect for what was already there: local artisans, recovered original terracotta floors, lime-based mortars, materials from small regional workshops. Heating comes from wood combustion using timber from the property. Solar panels cover most of the electricity needs. The farm stays close to energy self-sufficiency while remaining grid-connected - a practical balance that reflects how Elisa and Giovanni approach most things: with clear values and without dogma.

Five rooms opened in January 2025, but Malauva had already been receiving people for a year before that - through monthly events, tastings, and informal gatherings that gave the local community and early visitors a sense of what the place was becoming. The guests who find their way here now tend to know what they're looking for. Many come from Rome, drawn by natural wine and the pull of somewhere that feels genuinely rural but reachable. Others are moving along wine routes across Italy. "Rather than rushing onto major booking platforms, Malauva has so far chosen slower, more relational ways of being discovered" - working mainly through Instagram and word of mouth, reaching people willing to read the story before they book. It is, as Elisa and Giovanni would put it, growth that feels coherent with the land and their family life.