Villa Neviera is an elegant residence dating back to the nineteenth century, surrounded by the ancient Great Oritana Forest, native vineyards of Puglia, olive groves, and citrus groves. It is the place-to-be for those seeking tranquility in the Apulian countryside, discovering the culture of wine. Villa Neviera owes its name to the ancient "neviera," an underground structure built by the Church to store snow for medical and food use during the spring-summer. After the unification of Italy, the neviera, raised by one floor, became the residence of a noble local landowning family. Later, transformed into a castle, it was the home of the marquis and statesman Antonio De Viti De Marco, one of the most important Italian economists, who granted a large part of his six hundred hectares of forests to one hundred families of Cellino San Marco. During World War II, the Villa was the residence of Admiral Luigi Rubartelli of Brindisi and was renamed "Torre del Rifugio" when it hosted King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena, who fled Rome to escape German capture after the armistice.