The Gorgona Agricultural Penal Colony is an Italian prison
farm located on the island of Gorgona in the Tuscan Archipelago. The island has
a long history of being home to monastic communities with the Gorgona Abbey
being a prominent establishment on the island for most of the Middle Ages. The
abbey was abandoned in 1425 and in 1869 Gorgona became an agricultural penal
colony for the Kingdom of Italy.
The penal colony is home to 50 inmates who have been
convicted of murder and other violent crimes with a long waiting list for other
inmates awaiting transfer to the island. Here the prisoners are able to move
freely on the grounds, tending to agricultural work, with only an evening
curfew and lockdown.
At the colony, prisoners tend to a vineyard owned by the
Frescobaldi family, which has been producing wine in Tuscany for over 700
years. Here they produce 225 cases of a white wine blend of Ansonica and
Vermentino, labeled as Gorgona, that will retail for $66 a bottle and be
featured on high-end Italian restaurants wine lists, including a Michelin
three-star restaurant in Florence.
In addition to viticulture and winemaking,
the penal colony is also home to a vegetable garden and olive tree grove where
olive oil is produced, as well as livestock facilities which high quality
cheese, chicken and pork is produced.
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