Co.Pro.Vi (Consorzio Produttori Vini di Velletri – Velletri Wine Producers Consortium) was founded in 1950 in Velletri, a major winemaking centre in Lazio, in the Castelli Romani area. At first it comprised just 70 growers from Velletri, with a total production of just 15,000 hectoliters of wine. The precise intent was to give added value to the wine they were producing by assigning it a brand identity, and bringing it on the market with the name of “Velletri wine”.

Velletri’s winemaking tradition had been established in the very early years of the city and its wines, obtained from premium grapes favoured by the region’s volcanic soil, became notorious in ancient Rome for their quality. Indeed their excellence was praised in writing by those such as Pliny the Elder and Lucius Junius Columella.