---
title: On Gorgona, Europe's Last Prison Island, the Men Make a Wine That Has Just Reached America
description: On Gorgona, Europe's last prison island, inmates make a Tuscan wine now reaching America. Inside a 14-year rehabilitation project.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-09-23T11:31:52.658Z
updated: 2026-09-23T11:34:38.633Z
canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/gorgona-prison-island-wine-frescobaldi-us
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-a-scenic-vineyard-in-siena-tuscany-showcasing-lush-vines-und-23441099.jpg
categories: Food & Culture
content_type: Feature
region: Italy
publication: Rich Travel Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

An hour by boat from the port of Livorno, the smallest island in the Tuscan archipelago has held prisoners since 1869. Gorgona is an open penal colony, the only island penitentiary left in Europe, and the roughly sixty-five men serving out their sentences there spend their days at work rather than behind a cell door. They rear pigs, cows, sheep and goats. Since 2012, a smaller number of them have also learned to make wine.

The vineyard sits in a natural amphitheatre of iron-rich soil above the Tyrrhenian Sea, catching sun off the water and the salt of the breeze. It covers just over two hectares now, built up from a single restored hectare at the start. Five inmates, chosen from among those nearing release, work the rows alongside agronomists and winemakers from Marchesi Frescobaldi, the Tuscan wine family that runs the project with the prison. The guards take part too. The men earn a wage for the work. The result is Gorgona, a white blended from Vermentino and Ansonica grapes, and its fourteenth vintage, the 2025, has just gone on sale in the United States.

## Frescobaldi Was the Only One of About 400 Producers to Reply

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