VIA Seminar led by Prof. Attilio Scienza. Rethinking autochthony: new meanings for an ancient word

In light of recent scientific developments, it’s now time to redefine the meaning of autochthony. If we take the term to mean “vine born in that place”, Italy has fewer than a dozen native vines. Instead, we should consider autochthony to mean the place where a particular grape variety manifests itself in the best possible way. The true meaning of autochthony is not linked to the place of origin but to where the vine best expresses its genetic potential. That’s why Sangiovese is considered native to Montalcino, Chianti, Maremma, Montepulciano or Romagna, rather than to Calabria and Sicily, where its true genetic origins can be traced.

In this thought-provoking seminar, Professor Attilio Scienza goes back to the very origins of species, the distant arrival of the first “foreign” vines in Italy, and the Greek colonization of southern Italy, to redefine what it means to be autochthonous in the modern era, and what that says about the future of viticulture in Italy.