Renzi Francesco ,Master Coopers

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since 1500	... master coopers since 1500 In all likelihood, the original paternal name of this long line of master coopers was "Rienz' The family name can be traced with certainty to far away Bavaria from which, around the year 1000, there was a considerable German migration to the south. The new settlers occupied Italy's Alpine and pre-Alpine slopes where they dedicated themselves to the arduous trades of woodsman and cooper.
In 1546, in the vicarage of Brixen (now Bressanone), Matteo, "Count of Ressi," was born. The title provides further indication of the probable root of the Renzi family name and its alteration over time as the family moved south.Further penetration into Italy brought the Rienz family across what is known as today the Rienza River Valley to the Vicentine highlands near Valposina and San Vito di Leguzzano. The Family has always dedicated itself to wood craftsmanship, sometimes making church ornaments,at other times constructing wine barrels. The latter activity embodies the particular tradition and craft of German coopering. The foregoing is a broad history of the origins of the Renzi family. For the centuries that followed, archival records preserved more precise details of the family's descent. The succession leads eventually to Francesco. Born in Mestre in 1878, Francesco Rensi moved the family business first to Padova and then to Castelfranco Veneto. It was with this family patriarch that the business made its exodus from the Veneto region and the spelling of the surname changed from "Rensi" to the softer and more italianate "Renzi'. In 1913, Francesco's wife bore a son, Dionisio. A short time afterward, Castefranco Veneto became a war zone. In those difficult, anxiety-ridden years, the family was forced, along with other refugees, to relocate in the Padana area. There they settled and established the "Premiata Fabbrica Botti e Tini Renzi Francesco" at Castelfranco Emilia. In 1924, the business was moved to Modena, acquiring an ever more distinguished reputation in the barrel business. In 1955, upon the death of his father,Dionisio assumed the directorship of the business until 1978. Dionisio then handed the business over to his son, named Francesco after his grandfather, who had worked by his side for nearly 20 years in this centuries-old tradition of master coopering. Today the Renzi family carry the tradition of the artisan cooper into the future with Francesco, and Francesco's two young sons, Roberto and Matteo. The recent history of the family business is the story of its able craftsmen, who have absorbed the culture and tradition of the Modena region. This is particulary evident in the Renzi's expert craftsmanship of the wooden casks that are essential to the production of traditional balsamic vinegar, a product that has made Modena famous the world over. The recent return to the use of wooden botti for high quality wines keeps the Renzi coopers busy with the construction of traditional large volume casks and in the service of barrel renewal and toasting to specification of both barrels and barriques.
Today Francesco Renzi and his sons continue the legacy of the Renzi family, preserving the dignity and value of hand craftsmanship in a world dominated by the machine. It is still the case, far instance, that the Renzi's bend stave wood by hand using the old, painstaking method of immersion in boiling water, then waiting for the wood to dry naturally and to "cure" before it is used for barrel fabrication. Painstaking labor, together with centuries of inherited experience, contribute to produce barrels of exceptional quality and craftsmanship for the preservation and ageing of fine wines, spirits, and balsamic vinegar.

since 1500

... master coopers since 1500

In all likelihood, the original paternal name of this long line of master coopers was "Rienz' The family name can be traced with certainty to far away Bavaria from which, around the year 1000, there was a considerable German migration to the south. The new settlers occupied Italy's Alpine and pre-Alpine slopes where they dedicated themselves to the arduous trades of woodsman and cooper.

In 1546, in the vicarage of Brixen (now Bressanone), Matteo, "Count of Ressi," was born. The title provides further indication of the probable root of the Renzi family name and its alteration over time as the family moved south.Further penetration into Italy brought the Rienz family across what is known as today the Rienza River Valley to the Vicentine highlands near Valposina and San Vito di Leguzzano.
The Family has always dedicated itself to wood craftsmanship, sometimes making church ornaments,at other times constructing wine barrels. The latter activity embodies the particular tradition and craft of German coopering. The foregoing is a broad history of the origins of the Renzi family. For the centuries that followed, archival records preserved more precise details of the family's descent.
The succession leads eventually to Francesco. Born in Mestre in 1878, Francesco Rensi moved the family business first to Padova and then to Castelfranco Veneto. It was with this family patriarch that the business made its exodus from the Veneto region and the spelling of the surname changed from "Rensi" to the softer and more italianate "Renzi'.
In 1913, Francesco's wife bore a son, Dionisio. A short time afterward, Castefranco Veneto became a war zone. In those difficult, anxiety-ridden years, the family was forced, along with other refugees, to relocate in the Padana area. There they settled and established the "Premiata Fabbrica Botti e Tini Renzi Francesco" at Castelfranco Emilia. In 1924, the business was moved to Modena, acquiring an ever more distinguished reputation in the barrel business. In 1955, upon the death of his father,Dionisio assumed the directorship of the business until 1978.
Dionisio then handed the business over to his son, named Francesco after his grandfather, who had worked by his side for nearly 20 years in this centuries-old tradition of master coopering.
Today the Renzi family carry the tradition of the artisan cooper into the future with Francesco, and Francesco's two young sons, Roberto and Matteo. The recent history of the family business is the story of its able craftsmen, who have absorbed the culture and tradition of the Modena region.
This is particulary evident in the Renzi's expert craftsmanship of the wooden casks that are essential to the production of traditional balsamic vinegar, a product that has made Modena famous the world over. The recent return to the use of wooden botti for high quality wines keeps the Renzi coopers busy with the construction of traditional large volume casks and in the service of barrel renewal and toasting to specification of both barrels and barriques.

Today Francesco Renzi and his sons continue the legacy of the Renzi family, preserving the dignity and value of hand craftsmanship in a world dominated by the machine. It is still the case, far instance, that the Renzi's bend stave wood by hand using the old, painstaking method of immersion in boiling water, then waiting for the wood to dry naturally and to "cure" before it is used for barrel fabrication. Painstaking labor, together with centuries of inherited experience, contribute to produce barrels of exceptional quality and craftsmanship for the preservation and ageing of fine wines, spirits, and balsamic vinegar.