Three days at UWE with colleagues and friends, with wine, music, and something that stays with you
On Saturday, July 18, Guidi colleagues and friends were in Lessona, in the province of Biella, for the opening event of UWE, Unconventional Wine & Spirits Emotions: three days of meetings with wine producers, art, music, spirits, entertainment, and good food filling the Opificio Ponte Guelpa, the historic space of the former wool mill at Villa Guelpa on the banks of the Strona stream.
UWE is an invitation to listen and to find time again. Time that isn’t consumed but shared. Time that takes shape in a glass, in a voice, in an encounter. It’s an event reserved for enthusiasts and industry professionals, wine shop owners, sommeliers, HoReCa buyers, and restaurateurs, but open to anyone who loves wine, food, and music. Guidi is among the partners of the 2026 edition, a choice that goes beyond simple support, because believing in a project means choosing to walk in the same direction. The invitation to the opening night was extended to colleagues and to some people connected to the company. A way to find time again, and the pleasure of being together, in a place worth seeing.
Inside the Opificio, visitors could admire the silicone amphorae by Alessandro Ciffo, an artist from Biella who has worked with Guidi for years: pieces up to 240 centimeters tall, transparent like glass but soft to the touch, part of the Guidi collection. Next to them, three works by Maurizio Galimberti: mosaic portraits made with instant Polaroid film, Depp, De Niro, Lady Gaga, reassembled from fragments. And then Gregorio Furnari, there in person, with his story. The Titans he’s making in concrete, inspired by Hesiod’s Theogony, weren’t inside the Opificio: they’re outside, among the vineyards of Villa Guelpa, in the landscape that gave rise to them. Some already finished, others still taking shape. Inside the Opificio you could only see photos of them, but listening to Furnari talk about the relationship between human beings and the vastness of the nature around him had something rare about it. The kind of conversation you don’t expect at a cocktail reception and don’t easily forget. We’ll come back to this in the next issue, with a dedicated article and photos of the works among the vines.
Outside, a Gramophone Vinyl DJ Set was spinning. Wine was served only in Magnum bottles: a liter and a half slows everything down, forces people to share, keeps them standing together a little longer. The buffet, the grill, the conversation. Some people had arrived by coach, in classic company-outing style, others by car; in the end everyone ended up together. The heat was brutal, and so were the mosquitoes despite the pest control, but nobody left early. Closing out the evening, Johnson Righeira, born Stefano Righi, took the stage: singer-songwriter, musician, producer, and, among other things, an Erbaluce wine producer. Plus, of course, the song everyone knows.
Guidi’s invitation was for Saturday, but anyone who wanted to came back on Sunday and Monday too. It was worth it. The space was set up as a path of tables: wine producers, spirits, food. People stopped, tasted, talked. Sunday closed out big, with Paolo Jannacci, Alberto Fortis, Arianna Antinori, and Igor Santini backed by Michele Staino, Andrea Checcucci, and Matteo Diddi. At the end of the concert a cool breeze picked up. Late, but welcome. Monday brought the same tasting route, the same reluctance to leave. That evening Club Tenco brought Alberto Bertoli, Igor Santini with Staino, Checcucci, and Diddi, and then Neno and Giotto. The weekend concerts were organized together with Club Tenco, which has spent years bringing established artists and new voices together on stage as part of Tenco Ascolta, a national scouting program launched in 2009.
Some feelings can’t just be told. They’re lived, they pass from one person to another, and they stay. That’s when happiness makes itself felt again. The Opificio Ponte Guelpa is still a construction site, in the most literal sense of the word: restoration work started up again right after the event. But inside this place that keeps changing, Guidi has already found its own space. As a supporter of the project, the company has a private room built around a large table. A place meant for dinners, tastings, and meetings with clients and suppliers, but also for spending time together, among people who share the same work every day. An unusual, original space, where even work takes on a different flavor.
Thanks to the Dinoia family, a big family in every sense, who made all of this possible.
There are people in the world who bring beauty. Not only through art, music, wine, or food, but in the way they build relationships, keep their eyes open for those in need, and choose not to look away. At a time when it’s easy to stay closed off in your own circle, mind your own business, and let everything else slide, some people stop, look, and act instead. People who turn an abandoned space into a living place. Who invite different people to the same table. Who believe beauty isn’t a luxury, but a responsibility. That’s why we like them so much.
