Rubino Art Project grew out of Romina Leopardi’s desire to give voice to a rich heritage of values and experiences centred on a profound connection to the land—a connection rooted in history yet always open to innovation.

She envisioned RAP as a project that would celebrate the region’s resources, tell the story of its identity and raise its profile through the universal language of art. For her, seeking beauty in wine through its encounter with art means bringing two parallel paths into dialogue, each expressing the history, culture and sensibility of a civilisation. Wine and art share the ability to interpret their time, preserve memory and evoke emotion, transforming matter into experience.

The aim is to build a contemporary art collection over time, to be housed in the future Jaddico winery, and to offer guests a programme of cultural events and exhibitions in a region whose history of vine growing and winemaking spans more than two thousand years.

RAP 2017

TORRE TESTA

The dialogue at the heart of the Rubino Art Project is rooted in emblematic labels such as those of Palombara and Torre Testa, the wine that spearheaded the rediscovery and recognition of Susumaniello.

To give this grape variety the prominence that history had denied it, Atelier 790 designed a large, textured label in a bluish hue that echoes the intense colour of its skins.

At the centre of the design is an abstract mark entitled “ATTO CORPOREO“: a swift, bold and deliberate gesture celebrating human endeavour, in compelling contrast to the slow rhythm of a wine’s creation, shaped by the seasons and the passage of time. Minimal yet deeply evocative, the image brings human craftsmanship and the power of the earth together in a single artistic expression.

RAP 2020

FLOWER PEOPLE

With Palombara, a Primitivo di Manduria, the relationship between wine and art took on a more explicitly human and collective dimension. Its label reproduces Flower People, a work commissioned from artist Dino Sambiasi. Viewed from a distance, the composition appears to be a collection of petal-like marks; closer inspection reveals human figures gathered side by side, almost forming a single organism.

The work takes on an even deeper significance when considered in the context of Palombara’s origins, during a period marked by the pandemic and the enforced suspension of social life. Flower People conveys the vital need to meet, recognise one another and share experiences, while also evoking wine’s role in bringing people together: its ability to forge relationships, bridge distances and gather people around a shared experience.

Torre Testa and Palombara thus represent the first stages of a journey in which the label moves beyond its descriptive function to become a space for storytelling. One tells of a grape variety’s revival and the reaffirmation of its identity; the other celebrates relationships and sharing. Two distinct stories, united by the desire to allow an image to express what wine holds within it: memory, a sense of place, vision and humanity.

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RAP 2022

RADICI

The theme of the first edition is RADICI, a concept with multiple meanings.

From the cultural roots that define people’s traditions and ways of life and shape their sensibilities and tastes, to the bond with the land.

The task of the ten artists will therefore be to celebrate, with creativity and vision, a sensory universe linked to the local area and to wine of the highest quality, transforming the value of the experience lived at Jaddico into a work of art that will enhance the new spaces of the emerging winery.

From RADICI, the journey continues with ALCHIMIE, a new chapter of RAP devoted to sculpture. While the first project explored where we come from, ALCHIMIE considers what can emerge through encounter and transformation. Through their materials and forms, the works reveal unexpected affinities, balances and shifts, evoking the mysterious ability shared by art and wine to combine elements, time and sensibility to generate ever-new meanings.

ALCHIMIE brought contemporary art beyond conventional exhibition venues, finding an evocative setting in the panoramic corridor overlooking the barrel cellar. For the occasion, this space became a place suspended between aromas, silence, sculptural forms and creative ferment.

Four events, four artists and four distinct interpretations of art as it comes to life and evolves, using different materials to convey meaning and open a dialogue between artist and guest.

Renzo Buttazzo — FERMENTA | The Energy of Transformation
Gianluca Marinelli — CORPO LIQUIDO | Matter, Sensuality, Vibrations
Riccardo Masini — MEMORIE DI TANNINO | Time, Sedimentation, Memory
Daniele Papuli — EXTRAVERGINE | Nature, Roots, a Return to Origins