A new law decree which opens applications for the recognition of heroic and historical vineyards in Italy has been signed by Italian Ministry of Agriculture.
Heroic and historical vineyards, according to the article 7 paragraph 3 of “Testo Unico sul Vino” are considered cultural heritage. The new law decree allows interested parties to submit applications for the recognition of historic or heroic vineyards to the Regions of competence.
As indicated by the Decree, vineyards are defined “heroic” if they “fall in areas subject to hydrogeological risk, or located in areas where the orographic conditions create impediments to mechanization, in areas of particular landscape and environmental value, as well as vineyards located in small islands” . On the other hand, “those vineyards whose presence, reported in a given surface / parcel, was established prior to 1960” are considered “historical”.
In the five articles of the Law Decree, the criteria for identifying historic and heroic vineyards, and those for defining the types of interventions are addressed. For example, without reconsidering the areas already identified by the regional landscape plans, heroic vineyards must have at least one requirement between: a grade of sloping of the vineyard greater than 30%; an average altitude above 500 meters above sea level, excluding those located on a plateau; arrangement of vineyards trellising on terraces; viticulture of small islands. As for the historic vineyards, they are identified either by the use of traditional forms of cultivation linked to the place of production, or by the presence of “historical hydraulic-agricultural arrangements or of particular landscape value”.
