Order of Malta, the affairs of the knights between livestock and tobacco (and the 100 thousand bottles of prosecco) – Corriere.it

Bacchus, Tobacco and Steaks. from the Middle Ages that the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Smom), the oldest knightly order, founded in 1113 by Pope Paschal II, has given itself as a mission medical, social and humanitarian assistance to the needy. But it also manages a considerable heritage (including large farms) whose perimeter is as wide as it is mysterious. After all, a subject of international law branched into 120 countries. The pope, to whom obedience is guaranteed, is a sort of reference shareholder. In Italy the eight-pointed cross, symbol of the Order, stands out on some extensive agricultural estates in Veneto, Friuli, Umbria and Lazio. Their activities are organized under the umbrella of a single company that centralizes management and budget: it is called Sagrivit and is totally controlled by Smom through the Novecento Holding.

The turnover of the Knights

We went to see what they do and how business is going. The Knights of Malta produce (and sell) about 100 thousand bottles of Prosecco doc per year and then many other quality white and red wines with prices starting from 10 euros; they raise thousands of beef and dairy cattle and have hazelnut groves as far as the eye can see. And then there is the tobacco, indeed there would be. In short, a yellow because the balance sheets do not reveal any reference to this type of cultivation which in the past was carried out intensively, especially in Lazio. Yet at the opening of the website we read: The Italian Agricultural Vitivinicultural Society S.Agri.V.It. one of the largest Italian agricultural realities. We operate in multiple sectors, from the cultivation of cereals, orchards, tobacco, livestock breeding, as well as three estates specializing in viticulture. Tobacco for not the type of cultivation (and business) that befits a lay religious order of the Catholic Church. The Pope, among other things, is reforming the Order, has rewritten its statutes, to bring it back to its original bed, pruning it of that haughty patina of nobility that has characterized the last decades. The Esg turning point made by Francis goes beyond the strictly Vatican walls and finances. For 5 years, among other things, the sale of cigarettes under St. Peter’s has been prohibited.

From tobacco to wine

At the switchboard in Sagrivit, asking about the company that produces tobacco, they answer like this: The tobacco people are in Sugarella, but this year I don’t think they did. Sugarella is a locality in the municipality of Canino in Lazio, in the province of Viterbo. The director of the company, Niccol Di Paola, cuts short and dismisses the argument: We have closed the cultivation of tobacco for four years due to excessive drying costs. But let’s get into the peasant business of the Knights. Sagrivit is the company controlled by the Order which rents (contract until 2035) the agricultural estates owned by the Order. The value of these lands and the buildings that are their immense fulcrum. They were 14 up to two years ago under Sagrivit, today they are 7 but the turnover has grown, a sign that the activity is focused on few productive realities.

The strategy focused on the wine sector with three key companies: Castello di Magione in the province of Perugia, Villa Giustiniani in Spresiano in the province of Treviso and Rocca Bernarda in Udine. Each has its own history, even secular. The Castle of Magione, home to popes and kings, was built in the 12th century with the function of a hospital for pilgrims traveling to Rome or Jerusalem. And here the production of wine began in the Middle Ages. Today the vineyards fall within the Doc Colli del Trasimeno and the Doc Torgiano. Villa Giustiniani a seventeenth-century construction around which tens of kilometers of vineyards run geometrically from which Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg is obtained, about 100 thousand bottles a year. Rocca Bernarda one of the oldest realities of the Eastern Hills of Friuli – says the website – producer of wine since 1559. No noble residence in Friuli enjoys such a beautiful position. always considered a point of reference for the production of Picolit.

The record turnover

In 2021 the wine sector of the company of the Sovereign Order achieved 1.8 million in revenues compared to 1.4 in 2020. The report says there has also been an improvement in sales of cereals and other commodities despite a smaller arable area due to the exit of 7 companies. The walnut sector improved profitability as did the beef cattle of the Sugarella estate (Lazio) and the dairy cattle of the Mugnano estate (Umbria). Moral: last year Sagrivit’s turnover exceeded 5 million (4.6 the previous year) with a profit of 240 thousand euros (500 thousand). 2022 started very well with wine + 29%, the milk supply chain + 8% and wheat and barley are also growing. In short, the German Johann Esterhazy De Galantha who represents the Knights of Malta in the capital Sagrivit can be satisfied. The Order has over 2 million credits with its farms. But in the system of financing obtained by Sagrivit there are also loan agreements with Unicredit for about 4 million original, more than halved today. To guarantee these loans, the Knights have mortgaged, in favor of Unicredit, Palazzo Orsini in Rome, seat of the embassy to the Holy See of the Sovereign Order of Malta.