Bigi

Bigi has made wine in Orvieto since Luigi Bigi founded his wine house there in 1880. Its first home was a former Franciscan monastery called La Trinità. Since 1972 the wine has been made at Ponte Giulio, outside the old centre. Its own vineyards lie on mostly clay hills in the Classico zone, the oldest part of the Orvieto area. White wine leads the range, above all Orvieto Classico, made dry and medium-sweet. It belongs to Gruppo Italiano Vini, and the local wine road association lists guided cellar visits.

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Bigi vine rows on a hillside above a river valley, with a hill town on the horizon

Wines from Bigi

BIGI Orvieto Classico Secco DOC

BIGI Orvieto Classico Secco DOC

Orvieto

2 retailers

£12.88

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BIGI Orvieto Classico Amabile DOC

BIGI Orvieto Classico Amabile DOC

Orvieto

1 retailer

£13.06

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About Bigi

Luigi Bigi set up the Casa Vinicola Luigi Bigi in Orvieto in 1880. By the house's own account, his gift for selling took Orvieto wine around the world and made it famous. Its first home was La Trinità, an old Franciscan monastery the Italian state had confiscated in 1870. In 1972 the business moved to modern cellars at Ponte Giulio, not far from the old town. Bigi is one of the houses Gruppo Italiano Vini was built on in 1986. The team at Ponte Giulio looks after the vineyards, makes the wine and bottles it.

Bigi farms 145 hectares of its own vines, about 200 football pitches. They sit in the Classico zone, the historic core of Orvieto wine, on mostly clay hills between 150 and 450 metres up. About 70% of the vines carry white grapes. The Ponte Giulio cellar can produce 3 million litres of wine, roughly four million bottles. It keeps a large stock of casks and barriques for ageing. In 2022 and 2023 the group fitted new tanks and rebuilt the area where the wine is made.

Orvieto Classico sits at the centre of the range. It is a blend of five white grapes: Trebbiano Toscano, Grechetto, Verdello, Malvasia Toscana and Drupeggio. The Secco is the dry version and the Amabile the medium-sweet one. Vigneto Torricella comes from the vineyard of that name, which overlooks Lake Corbara, and was first made in 1980. Its 2024 vintage scored 91 out of 100 in Vitae 2026, the wine guide of the Italian Sommelier Association. Bigi has bottled Grechetto on its own since 1993, fermented and aged in steel tanks. It also makes Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone, a white from neighbouring Lazio.

On the red side, Bigi works with Umbrian Sangiovese, alone or in blends. Sartiano pairs it with Merlot. The name comes from the first vineyard wardens, appointed by Orvieto's consuls in the late 1200s. They checked the work and the grapes in the best growing area, the Tenuta Civitatis. Tamante means "great" in Umbrian dialect and mixes native and international grapes. The Vipra line covers a white, a rosé, a red and a sparkling brut. Vipra Rosé 2023 won Best of Show for Italian rosé at the 2024 Mundus Vini summer tasting.

Paolo Nardo has led the winery since 2017. He was born in Portogruaro, near Venice, in 1978 and studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Udine. Before Bigi he worked in Sicily, Umbria and Tuscany, on white and sparkling wines and on ageing reds in casks. In 2026 he also took charge of Fontana Candida, the group's Frascati winery. Some of Bigi's wines are certified under SQNPI, Italy's national scheme for integrated farming. The certification checks that the rules are followed from the vineyard to packing and sale. Certified bottles carry the scheme's "Qualità sostenibile" mark.

Editorial · ItalianWines.co.uk

Plate I · UMBRIA

Bigi on the Umbria wine atlas

Anchored in Orvieto, the editorial heart of Umbria.

Località Ponte Giulio 3, 05018 Orvieto (TR)
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Visit & Experiences

Experiences at Bigi

Nothing here can be booked online yet. The experiences below are documented by our editors. The estate's contact details are in Practical info.

Guided cellar visit at Bigi Cellar Tour
Ponte Giulio cellar, Orvieto

Guided cellar visit

Orvieto's wine road association lists guided visits of Bigi's cellar, and groups are welcome. The winery publishes no times or prices online. Call or email to arrange a visit before you travel.

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gruppoitalianovini.it/en/brand/bigi
Località Ponte Giulio 3, 05018 Orvieto (TR)
+39 0763 315888
[email protected]

What Bigi makes

Bigi's current bottle selection is easiest to understand through Grechetto and Malvasia.

Key grapes

Common questions

  • Bigi's winery is at Località Ponte Giulio 3, 05018 Orvieto, in the province of Terni in Umbria. It sits close to the A1 motorway, about 6 km in a straight line from Orvieto cathedral. The house moved here in 1972 from its first home, the former La Trinità monastery in Orvieto.
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