Famed Italian architect Renzo Piano has designed and constructed his first and perhaps last wine cellar, which will be inaugurated at the weekend.
Piano was talked into designing the cellar by his long-time friend Paolo Panerai, a magazine publisher and winemaker who is a partner in the Rocca di Frassinello vineyards here in the heart of the Tuscan Maremma.
Taking time off from his revamping of the Potsdamer Plaz in Berlin, Piano began work on the cellar in the summer of 2003.
In line with the unique nature of his other projects, including the Pompidou Center in Paris, the innovative cellar is built on two underground levels which can host 2,500 225-liter wooden barrels.
The idea behind his design, Piano explained, was to build "a noble factory which both produces and elevates wine to a higher level".
Piano himself has been producing Dolcetto wine in the Italian northwest region of Piedmont for years.
Observers say the cellar is of "astonishing simplicity with a revolutionary division of spaces".
The structure has attracted the attention of local authories who have granted Piano's request that it also be used to host events promoting the province, as well as serve as an attraction for students and architecture-lovers.
Panerai became involved in wine making when he became a partner in the Castellare di Castellina vineyard in the heart of the Chianti Classico region.
The Rocca di Frassinello vineyards is the result of the first Italian-French joint venture in the winemaking sector.
Panerai's French partner is Les Domaines Baron de Rothschild-Lafite.
Panerai has also expanded into Sicily with the acquisition of the Feudi del Pisciotto vineyard located between Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina in eastern Sicily.
