Long and very special, therefore, the wine history of the island of Ischia. Island where viticulture is ancient, it is both sea and mountain, a place where you start to harvest at sea level and ends at almost 1000m altitude. In the family cru called Frassitelli for example, at about 700m above sea level on very steep soils and specially terraced with the typical green tuff as the color of the island, the harvest is practiced by winemakers mountaineers. Difficulties and costs of this kind of viticulture are directly proportional to the altitude, as well as the quality of the raw material harvested and the wines produced. These growers still today keep their well deserved nickname of "mad angels" that Veronelli gave them when he saw Frassitelli for the first time. The most extreme example of heroic viticulture is given by the Frassitelli vineyard of Casa D'Ambra. " I had D'Ambra family buy the Frassitelli estate, piece by piece, from various farmers. It took me a couple of years to fix, with these hands of mine, the dry stone walls, the parracine. Then we started planting, I planted the cuttings one by one. It took an hour's walk from my house to the Frassitelli, up in the mountains, but I was up there every morning at 7 a.m. This went on for years and years... There has always been a special relationship with D'Ambra, Mario was my companion at the seminary, Michele was more of a brother to the extent that Peppenuzza still makes him say messe. We used to go quail hunting together, renting a place together, even with Salvatore, who was more keen on hunting than the others. I used to train the dogs for them, a real passion. They really cared about me, and I cared about them, in short, they were like a family..." Michele Mattera, aka Candelora.