Damiano Ciolli took over the family-run winery in 2001 (the fourth generation of the Ciolli family to do so) and immediately began producing his own wines instead of selling the grapes to other producers as the family had done for decades. He and his partner, Letizia Rocchi, now farm the grapes and make the wines in the rolling hills of Olevano Romano, 50km due east of Rome.

The wines here are made almost exclusively from the cesanese grape, of which there are two related clones: cesanese comune and cesanese di Affile. The latter makes up 100% of the wine here and is considered the far better varietal. The soils are iron-rich and volcanic.

This 2019 Silene (silene is the name of a local jug-shaped wildflower, depicted on the label) is chewy spiced dark cherry and herbaceous bitter sage and green herbs on the palate, with black tea leaf tannins, a bit burnt on the finish. It also has a bit of a weighty, baking spice finish. It's good with a juicy steak, mushroom pizza, or the Lazio speciality bucatini all'amatriciana.