A small chapel hidden within the estate
The restoration of the ancient chapel at Tenuta della Dainara
It was covered by brambles, surrounded by vegetation, hidden like certain family stories that never truly disappear: they are only waiting for the right moment to come back out. At first it looked like a small tower. Only after the first clearing and recovery works on the area, when the brambles were removed, did its true nature begin to emerge.
A few years after the purchase of the estate, the Assennato family decided to have it emptied. For decades, in fact, it had been used as a storeroom by the old farm workers, who kept there everything that might be needed for work in the vineyard. Tools, materials, useful objects. Small traces of everyday life.
On the front wall, right in front of the entrance, signs appeared of what that building had truly been: a small niche, perhaps intended to hold a sacred painting, the image of a saint or of the Madonna; and then the outline of an ancient wall altar. Shortly after, looking more closely, traces of the old holy water font also emerged.
The recovery of a rural memory
The conservative restoration of the ancient chapel comes from the desire to protect a fragile and precious part of Tenuta della Dainara.
It is a window onto the life that once animated the estate: the work in the fields, the presence of the farm workers, everyday spirituality, the relationship between rural community, land and tradition.
In places like this, religiosity was not something separate from farming life. It was part of it. It stood beside the vineyard, near the cistern, within the rhythm of the seasons and of the work. Like a cornerstone: silent, but necessary.
A conservative restoration project
The conservative restoration works on the chapel will be completed in 2026 and are part of a wider project for the recovery of elements of culture, religiosity and local tradition connected to the life of rural communities.
The intervention is carried out within the framework of the Public Notice for the submission of intervention proposals for the restoration and enhancement of rural architectural and landscape heritage, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, within the PNRR [M1.C3 – Measure 2 “Regeneration of small cultural sites, cultural, religious and rural heritage” – Investment 2.2], managed by the Ministry of Culture with the Sicilian Region as Implementing Body.
For Cantoneri, restoring this chapel means continuing a work that began with Tenuta della Dainara itself: recovering, cultivating, preserving. Making what time had covered shine again, without erasing its traces.
Intervention funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU
Intervention funded through the Public Notice for the submission of intervention proposals for the restoration and enhancement of rural architectural and landscape heritage, within the framework of the PNRR [M1.C3 – Measure 2 “Regeneration of small cultural sites, cultural, religious and rural heritage” – Investment 2.2], approved by DD No. 1292 of 12.04.2022 of the Regional Department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU and managed by the Ministry of Culture; Implementing Body: Sicilian Region.
