Vino e vocazione

Abstract

The historical development of the agriculture of vine in Sicily and the qualities of its wines is the main topic of this paper. Despite considering vines an emblematic product of the Mediterranean world since the times of the Greeks and the Romans, its economic and territorial importance is not fully developed until modern times. In fact, Sicilian grapes experienced a rapid take off at the end of eighteenth century thanks to Englishmen appreciation for its wines, especially Marsalas. The land dedicated to vines experienced a considerable increase against the cereal fields. The crisis of the French vine because of the phylloxera caused a considerable increase of the surface destined in the vine. Therefore, by the end of century the number of hectares of vineyards doubled of that in the middle of the century. Yet, Sicily also was affected by the epidemic and was had to stand stocks of American plants. However, the expansion previous to the plague created a consistent market in Italy and overseas that could resist the crisis. In the 1970s, Sicilian grapes experienced a deep renovation by reducing to obtain wines of superior quality. Following national and European policies, the growers undertook changes that affected different aspects of production: economic (investments...), territorial (irrigation, different types of grows...) and the social one (emigration, acculturation...). As a result, at the beginning of the twenty-first century the area devoted to vines has been reduced to less than half of those of the mid twentieth century. The quality of the wine has improved remarkably with the introduction of French stocks. The old rough wine has been replaced by one smoother destined to a wider and more diverse public. The great diffusion of the Sicilian wine could produce yet another destruction, that is causes, then, another destruction, that is to say, the traditional Sicilian cereal producers.