The House of the Panigai has ancient origins. The ancestor Falcomarius of Panigai began the family tree in 1080. At that time, the progenitor, perhaps of Frankish origin, enjoyed the title of sire of Panigai, lived in the low Friuli.
Around 1250 the bishop of Aquileia gave the family the title of count. The family did not just stay in his fiefs of Friuli and Farra di Soligo: Bortolo di Panigai, a Jesuit, in the early eighteenth century went to the king of Portugal, contributing decisively to tracing the borders of Brazil.
With the Renaissance the part of the family that resided in Friuli remained in Austria-Hungary, while those who lived in Farra di Soligo entered Italy, built after the third war of independence in 1866.
The Panigai family, through its branches of Friuli and Veneto, has gone through history for over 900 years, always keeping the original name, also because the noble title and the name of the family were also transmitted by women.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the grandfather of the current head of the family, Giovanni Bevacqua, married the last heir of the Panigai family. In the 1950s, the Italian Republic allowed the surname of Bevacqua to be added to the original name of the ancient family of Panigai's medieval origins.
The title of count was already the prerogative of the family, since brought in dowry by the grandmother of the current head of the family group and the company, Rambaldo Bevacqua di Panigai.
To ensure the descent and above all the future wine production there are today the eldest son Falcomario, enotecnico, who personally takes care of the wine production of Villa Maria Spumanti and the youngest daughter Francesca, also enotecnica.