The “heroic” vineyards of Mombarone officially enter in the national Register of rural landscape

The “heroic” vineyards of Mombarone, in Piedmont, are characterized by a strong historical and cultural value, represented by a complex system of terracings which well express the needs of old agricultural communities to make an increasingly higher number of surfaces productive shaping entire slopes: now, these Vineyards and Agricultural Terraced Landscapes, located between the slopes of Mombarone and Serra di Ivrea, officially enter in the national Register of rural landscape. It is the first site of Piedmont to be admitted in the prestigious list collecting extraordinary traditional rural landscapes, or of historical interest, in addition to agricultural practices and knowledge connected to them. This has been decided by the decree signed on December 18 by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Francesco Lollobrigida.
The vineyards of Mombarone are a real polyculture in which the historical cultivation of the vine emerges, to which the building of terracings has been dedicated since ancient times. There are two elements of uniqueness that are strongly identitary: the first is the peculiar traditional agricultural practice foreseeing a Caremian pergola vine system supported by stone and lime truncate-conical columns called “pilun” constituting a very strong visual and perceptual value. Repeating themselves at similar distances and close enough, they characterize, as a matter of fact, the landscape in a unique way, and they become a real landmark of it. Moreover, they also play an important role in maintaining a favorable microclimate for the ripening of grapes contributing, together with stones of dry walls, to reduce the thermal excursion between the day and the night. The second element of uniqueness is the presence of rock-cut wineries in Borgofranco di Ivrea called “Balmetti”, inside which air currents are generated allowing to maintain the temperature and humidity constant. In that context, the high quality of produced wines, of which Nebbiolo is the undisputed protagonist, is demonstrated by the presence of important denominations such as Doc Carema and Doc Canavese.