Roots

Giacomo Rallo was born in Marsala on 18 October 1937, fourth generation of a Sicilian family dedicated to producing quality wines since 1851.
He graduated in Law from the University of Palermo and began participating in the activities of the family business, managing the company from 1965 to 1970 as well as becoming export manager. He subsequently switched his focus to his own business ventures, also in the wine business, both in Italy and abroad.
Capitalising on the international experience he had acquired in both the production and marketing and sales sectors, in 1983 he launched the “Donnafugata” project together with his wife and expert winemaker Gabriella Anca, basing his strategic choices on his in-depth knowledge of the market and the quality wine segment.
The goal was to develop an innovative production and cultural project in Sicily that promoted the identity of the territory while applying the most cutting-edge international winemaking techniques and science.
For this reason, Giacomo Rallo was regarded as a pioneer in the world of Sicilian wine, a man whose success was based on the key principle of “producing quality and communicating quality”.
The Donnafugata project hinged on 3 production sites (the vinification cellars of Contessa Entellina and Pantelleria, and the ageing cellar of Marsala) and the cultivation of 260 hectares of vineyards in the middle of western Sicily in Contessa Entellina and 68 hectares on the island of sun and wind, Pantelleria.

A strong believer in the benefits of associations of wine industry operators, Giacomo Rallo held various prestigious roles in different union bodies and associations.
▪ At UNIONE ITALIANA VINI, a Confcommercio union that brings together around 600 wine bottler members from all Italian regions: Councillor from 1995 to 2004; Federazione degli Industriali Vinicoli: Vice Chairman from 1996 to 2000; Federazione degli Industriali Vinicoli: Chairman from 2001 to 2004; Confederazione Italiana della Vite e del Vino: Vice Chairman from 2001 to 2004.
▪ ASSOVINI, association with 60 members, the main producers of quality Sicilian wines: Founder in 1998, and first Chairman until 2001, after which he remained Vice Chairman until 2009.
▪ FEDERVINI, a Confindustria association, which gathers the main and the most important producers of wines, special wines and spirits: Vice Chairman of the National Wine Union from 2005 to 2010.
▪ ISTITUTO DEL VINO ITALIANO DI QUALITÀ GRANDI MARCHI: the association founded by a pool of 19 of the leading Italian wine companies, driven by the common goal of carrying out incisive promotion activities together on the international markets. Vice Chairman from 2004 to 2010.

In 2006 he was given the title Cavaliere del Lavoro.

He passed away on 10 May 2016.

Born in 1942, Gabriella Anca studied Classics at the Poggio Imperiale boarding school of Florence; in 1960 she obtained a Diploma in Translation from the University of Geneva; in 1964 she graduated in Political Science from the University of Palermo and worked as an English Language and Literature teacher at the Classical High School.
She inherited the Contessa Entellina Estate with 40 hectares of vineyards from her father and in 1983 – together with husband Giacomo Rallo – founded the Donnafugata wine company, to which she devoted herself full time, managing the wine estate and carrying out communication and PR activities.
It was she who chose the name Donnafugata, taking inspiration from the Tomasi di Lampedusa novel, The Leopard. A name that means “fleeing woman” and which refers to the story of a queen who took refuge in the part of Sicily where the company’s vineyards are found. A story that also gave Gabriella Anca the inspiration for the company logo: the image of a woman’s head, hair blown by the wind, that decorates every bottle.
Gabriella Anca has always been an innovator: in the viticulture area she first of all decided to reduce production volumes by hectare in order to obtain better quality grapes; she also improved the training and pruning practices and the ampelography of the estate (the series of grape varieties grown), abandoning some lower quality varieties, introducing international varieties and selecting the best biotypes of native varieties.
A pioneer also in the field of wine communication, Gabriella Anca is the inspiration behind the labels designed for Donnafugata by Stefano Vitale, which have projected the personality of every wine for over 30 years. Unique and inimitable, the Donnafugata designer labels are one of the company’s hallmarks. The first designer label, La Fuga, revolutionised the concept of the wine label.
She has been an important presence in various associations: Gabriella Anca was a member of Soroptimist International, the association of prominent women from professional circles which promotes human rights and the female condition; she was a member of AIDDA, the Association of Female Entrepreneurs and Company Managers, an association founded with the goal of promoting female enterprise; she was Regional Chairman of the Movimento Turismo del Vino Sicilia and she was one of the founders of Associazione Nazionale Le Donne del Vino.
Gabriella Anca has received numerous important awards: for her extraordinary contribution to Italian wine, in 2001 Vinitaly of Verona awarded her the Cangrande Medal; in 2018 she was given the title Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana for her work to establish Sicilian wine and the role of women on the island.
Today she is Honorary Chairman of Donnafugata; she inspires and oversees the company’s communication style and plays an active role in its public relations activities.

Born in 1964, José Rallo represents the fifth generation of a Sicilian family with 170 years of experience in the world of fine wine.
She graduated in Business and Economics with honours and an honourable mention from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa.
After acquiring professional experience in international management consultancy firms, in the early 90s José Rallo joined Donnafugata, the family wine business founded in 1983 by her parents Giacomo and Gabriella.
Together with her brother Antonio, today she is chief executive officer of Donnafugata; in Sicily the company has its historic cellars in Marsala and four Estates with vinification cellars and vineyards covering a total of 488 hectares in Contessa Entellina, Pantelleria, Etna and Vittoria.
Face and voice of the company, she has long been committed to the sustainable and cultural development of her land: from energy savings and the production of renewable energy through to certifying the carbon footprint, for 20 years she has supported the archaeological excavations of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa in Sicily as well as funded its “Giuseppe Nenci” Academic Award.
José Rallo has profoundly innovated the style of wine communication with “Donnafugata Music & Wine Live”, proposing, in the guise of producer and solo vocalist, multisensory wine and music experiences that have produced three CDs and memorable concerts at the Blue Note in Milan and New York, in Beijing, Shanghai and Moscow, and at the Acropolis Museum of Athens, also raising funds to support charitable initiatives.
She has also developed the hospitality activities at the Donnafugata wineries which today host over 29,000 wine lovers a year with guided tours and sophisticated tastings, as well as special wine culture promotional activities such as “Cantine Aperte” and “Calici di Stelle”.
In collaboration with the FAI (Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano – the Italian National Trust), in 2018 she launched “Inseguendo Donnafugata”, an exhibition held at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan dedicated to the illustrations of artist Stefano Vitale which for 30 years have set the company’s wine labels apart with their incredibly imaginative and feminine depictions.
Her perceptiveness has seen her focus communications on the innovativeness of Sicily and the excellence of ‘Made in Italy’, emphasising the link between art, wine and sustainability. An example of these values, and more particularly those of artisanship and creativity, is the partnership with Dolce&Gabbana which has produced a “collection” of four wines distributed all over the world.
First female Board member of Banco di Sicilia following her nomination by Unicredit, as well as Chairman of Comitato Territoriale Sicilia (2008-2010), José Rallo has worked tirelessly on the issues of internationalisation and innovation.
She is member of the “Le Donne del Vino” association and councillor of Assovini Sicilia. Over her career she has received various important acknowledgments: Mela d’Oro from Fondazione Bellisario in 2002, the title of “Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” in 2009, Premio Firenze Donna in 2010, “Accademico dei Georgofili” in 2017, and in 2018 the “L’Italia che comunica con Arte” prize awarded by Unione Imprese di Comunicazione, Ambassador of Italian Family Business Culture as part of AIDAF’s Alberto Falck award.
Between 2020 and 2024 she was Board Member of ICE, the Italian Trade & Investment Agency. In June 2021 she was appointed Member of the Board of the FAI (Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano), the Italian National Trust.

Born in 1967, Antonio Rallo represents the fifth generation of a Sicilian family with 170 years of experience in the world of fine wine.
He graduated in Agrarian Sciences with top marks from the University of Palermo.
Before devoting himself completely to the family business, where he has worked since he was a young man, he moved to Germany to further his knowledge in what has traditionally been a strategic market for Italian wine.
On returning to the island, he dedicated himself to his first passion: the vineyard and wine.
He married Barbara, together with whom he has also been on innumerable business trips and cultivated important working relationships.
Today, together with his sister José, Antonio Rallo is chief executive officer and co-owner of Donnafugata, the company founded by his parents Giacomo and Gabriella.
Passionate and highly-skilled winemaker, Antonio Rallo oversees production at Donnafugata which has its historic cellars in Marsala and estates with over 400 hectares of vineyards in western Sicily, in Contessa Entellina and Pantelleria, and in eastern Sicily in Vittoria and on Mount Etna.
Brought up among the vineyards and cellars, Antonio Rallo has a great love for the land and, with a strategic vision of Sicilian wine, promotes the growth of the industry in an inclusive process involving the island’s wine sector operators.
From 2011 to 2014 he was chairman of Assovini Sicilia, the association of Sicily’s biggest wine producers.
In June 2012 he contributed to the creation of Consorzio di Tutela Vini DOC Sicilia, an association for local promotion and cohesion.
In 2012 he was also elected Chairman of the Consorzio, which now represents over 8300 winemakers, a position he still holds today.
In 2011 he joined the Board of Unione Italiana Vini – Confederazione Italiana della Vite e del Vino, the leading national association of wine industry businesses, of which he was chairman from 2016 to 2017.
His various acknowledgements and roles also include the Burgundy “Chevalier du Tastevin” since 1999 and the title “Accademico dei Georgofili” since 2014.

Gabriella Favara, 28, represents the sixth generation of the Donnafugata family, which now boasts 170 years of experience in the world of fine wine.
Gabriella attended classical high school where she had the opportunity to take part in international exchange programmes firstly in Perth, Australia, and then in Frankfurt, Germany, where she spent a year at the Bettinaschule Gymnasium school.
She graduated in Business Economics and Management from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan before studying for a Master’s in Business Management at Brookes University in Oxford.
After returning to Italy, she began her professional career in the food sector working for two of the most important Italian confectionery companies: Loacker, as Trade Marketing Manager (Italy), and Bauli, as Brand Manager, where she was involved in trade marketing campaigns, product launches and activities on the main markets in which the two companies operate.
In 2022 Gabriella returned to Sicily to work for Donnafugata.
She began working in the Wine Tourism team, the first point of contact and experience with the Donnafugata world for consumers, in the role of Hospitality Manager, channelling her passion and attention to detail into the guided tours, tastings and events in the five Donnafugata wineries, helping visitors to learn about the company’s high quality but small-scale production lines.
Now, thanks to her trade marketing experience and language skills (English, German), she has joined the Export team where she focuses predominantly on Trade Marketing activities.
She is a member of the “Le Donne del Vino” association, founded with the aim of promoting the culture of wine and the role of women in this sector.
Warm and inquisitive, she represents Donnafugata at many national and international events where she proudly presents her land and her family tradition, ready to take advantage of new opportunities for the company.
Since June 2025 she has been Chairman of “Generazione Next”, the young professionals group of Assovini Sicilia, the association of the island’s leading wine producers.