In his youth, Marco had worked with his father on his family farm near the town of Marsala. But his obsession with cars and a need for speed proved too strong, leading to a first career as a professional race car driver. Towards the end of this career, however, Marco was ready to turn a new leaf. Thinking back on his youth, he felt a deep sadness that the once proud tradition of Marsala had sunken so low. He decided he wanted to change this.

Marco reconstructed his family's old cellar on his mother's farm in the contrada of Samperi. Then he searched high and wide for old solera barrels of Grillo from local contadini. The vines were planted progressively and exclusively in Grillo, which in Marco's eyes was the only grape to make Marsala due to its high acidity, ability to reach high degrees of alcohol and aging potential. Finally the wines: "Vecchio Samperi" represented the unfortified, traditional style of Marsala while the "Superiore" line was fortified with mistella (sweet must and eau de vie) as a statement that the cantina was not only rooted in the past, but well versed in the present and future.

In 1984, Marco started a new project on the island of Pantelleria, originally producing only a Passito. By the early 1990s, he had garnered a stellar reputation for being alone in making truly stunning expressions of Marsala  terroir. By the mid 1990s, Marco's children Renato, Sebastiano and Giusippina had all joined him in this work. Youthful energy led to new experiments, most notably dry white wines from Grillo and later Zibibbo from Pantelleria.