BIOGRAPHY
Lorenzo Scarpone is a native of the Abruzzi region in central Italy. Raised on a farm where his family produced their own food and grew their own grapes to make wine, Lorenzo was introduced to the importance of culinary and wine-making traditions at a very young age. 
This environment nurtured his passion for food and wine and inspired a career path that would eventually lead to the creation of Villa Italia. Lorenzo attended the highly-regarded Hotel and Restaurant school in Giulianova and had his own restaurant on the Adriatic Coast at a young age. 

Anxious to see the world, he served as a wine steward for Sea Goddess Cruises, then arrived in San Francisco and became sommelier at the noted Donatello Restaurant. 
Lorenzo currently resides in San Francisco with his wife Susy and their three children Fabio, Sofia and Nicolò. Exposed to all the great wines of the world, Lorenzo was convinced that the regional treasures of Italian viticulture were woefully underrepresented in the world market and set out to remedy the situation. Villa Italia, founded in 1989, began by importing great value wines of Lorenzo’s native Abruzzi region - Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo and Trebbiano d’ Abruzzo. In addition, he searched out small up-and-coming producers from other regions of Italy, assembling a portfolio of wines distinguished by their price/quality ration at all levels. Villa Italia’s wines have received outstanding reviews from Gambero Rosso (Italy’s leading wine journal), Wine Spectator, Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer. Lorenzo, an active member of the Slow Food Organization, founded the first convivium in the United States. Today, he still continues to be the San Francisco convivium leader of Slow Food, an organization based in Italy which seeks to preserve local artisanal, culinary and viticultural traditions throughout the world. Lorenzo says that Villa Italia’s goal is to introduce Americans to Italian wines, to complement the food that we eat. He has succeeded, and his wines are true discoveries that complement life as well.