ANSA: THEY LEFT THEIR COUNTRY, AFRICA, ON A BOAT AND TODAY, SEEKING ASYLYUM IN ITALY, THEY ARE WORKING THE LAND AND REVIVING AN ANCIENT WINEMAKING TRADITION. THE MIGRANTS OF THE DIOCESES OF GENOA ARE WORKNG TO SAVE BIANCHETTA WINE

Reviving antique vineyards, securing a fragile territory and integrating migrants are the goals of the Diocesan office of the Migrantes Foundation in collaboration with Orto Collettivo project, whose task it is to supervise the formation of youth in the agricultural sector, and especially young asylum seekers mostly from African countries that are housed in the Diocese of Genoa facilities.
The young immigrants have been working for several months on the land owned by Ospedale Galliera that has been chosen for this initiative, to revive the ancient local winemaking tradition of Valpolcevera: Bianchetta, grape and white wine of Coronata, the Genoa neighborhood on the hill with the Santuario di N.S. Incoronata. The hope is that “there will be new grafts from the traditional wine”.
“We hope we can produce the first bottles by next year”, explained Monsignor Giacomo Martino, head of the Migrantes Foundation. The next step will be to start the procedures for applying for PDO and PGI certifications.

“We have to emphasize how important these young people are in helping to revive our land and our traditions”, explained Simone Blangetti of the social cooperative "Another story" and the agricultural project coordinator. “The youth working on the project”, said Monsignor Martin, “were almost all born farmers. They were crop farmers before landing in Italy, and here they are doing the jobs that most of our Italian youth no longer want to do”. Furthermore, “thanks to our job exchange projects, we are taking these young people off of the streets, teaching them Italian agronomy and giving them the necessary knowledge to be able to one day continue working by themselves”.

The migrants study Italian at the Community of St. Egidio School for Foreigners and at the same time, they learn to clean the staves, reinforce the terraces and cultivate vines. At present, there are 260 young migrants supervised by the Diocese of Genoa and 70 of them are housed in the parishes.
Thanks to "work grants", these young people have access to an education and a job-training course. Besides the valley restoration project, other migrants are taking courses in tailoring and construction.