Italy has more agricultural biodiversity than any other European country. 538 registered native wine grape varieties, 4,000 documented heritage apple varieties, 63 officially registered native cattle breeds (more than France, Germany, and the UK combined), over 350 Slow Food Presidia protecting products at risk of extinction. This extraordinary biodiversity is the product of Italy's specific geography (the peninsula's length and the variation from the Alps to the Sicilian semi-arid zones producing radically different growing conditions in close proximity), its agricultural history (the small-scale peasant farming that persisted longer in Italy than in northern Europe, maintaining local varieties that large-scale agriculture would have replaced with uniform high-yield cultivars), and the specific Italian resistance to agricultural standardization that the Slow Food movement has formalized since 1989.
The visitor who understands Italian food biodiversity encounters a completely different Italy from the one defined by the DOP-certified mainstream products. The Zolfino bean of the Pratomagno hills in Tuscany (a specific variety of cannellino bean that dissolves to a cream when cooked without any trace of the papery skin that characterizes commercial cannellinos) is a product of which approximately 15 farms produce the genuine variety. The Mela Selvatica di Nusco (the wild apple of the Irpinia mountains in Campania, used for pastry in the local tradition) is produced by approximately 50 trees still in production. The Ligurian Taggiasca olive (the small black olive with the specific fruity bitterness that makes Ligurian olive oil the lightest and most delicate in Italy) is under constant pressure from more productive olive varieties in neighboring regions.
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The Categories of Italian Food Biodiversity
Native Wine Grapes
Italy's 538 registered native grape varieties (out of the approximately 1,100 varieties catalogued worldwide) represent the most varied single-country wine grape collection in the world. The most significant native Italian varieties by production volume and quality: Nebbiolo (Piedmont. Barolo, Barbaresco), Sangiovese (Tuscany. Brunello, Chianti, Morellino), Aglianico (Campania/Basilicata. Taurasi, Aglianico del Vulture), Nerello Mascalese (Sicily. Etna Rosso), Primitivo/Zinfandel (Puglia, the same variety as California Zinfandel, brought to the Americas by Croatian immigrants from the Dalmatian coast who had received it from Puglia), Corvina Veronese (Veneto. Valpolicella, Amarone), Vermentino (Sardinia and Liguria), Fiano and Greco Bianco (Campania), Pecorino (Abruzzo, not related to the cheese. A white grape variety named for its small berry size, which sheep reportedly preferred to eat).
Heritage Vegetable Varieties
The Italian heritage vegetable tradition preserves varieties that industrial agriculture has abandoned: the Costoluto Fiorentino tomato (the ridged ribbed Florentine tomato, intensely sweet, poorly suited for machine harvesting, maintained by seed-saving gardeners and heritage variety farmers). The Pisello Nano di Oristano (the dwarf pea of Oristano in Sardinia, extremely sweet, available only in May). The Aglio di Polesine (the garlic of the Po delta, with a specific flavour profile produced by the alluvial soil and the local climate that has no commercial-scale equivalent). The Sedano Rapa di Verona (the Veronese celeriac variety, sweeter and more aromatic than the commercial cultivar, maintained by a handful of Veronese farms). The Slow Food Presidia list for Italian vegetables covers approximately 45 specific heritage varieties in active cultivation.
Q&A: Italian Food Biodiversity
Where can I find Italian heritage food varieties as a visitor?
The Salone del Gusto / Terra Madre biennial event in Turin (October, even years) is the most concentrated single gathering of Italian and international food biodiversity producers. 1,000+ Presidia producers in one location for 5 days. Outside this event: the Slow Food producer markets in Italian cities (the Mercato della Terra program, with producers in approximately 50 Italian cities). The Earth Market Bologna (weekly Saturday market with certified Slow Food producers from Emilia-Romagna). And the individual Presidia producers whose contact information is available at slowfood.com/en/slowfood-presidia/.
Internal Links
- Slow Food Italy: The Full Presidia Guide
- Italian Native Grapes: 538 Varieties in Context
- Heritage Cheese Varieties: The Endangered Ones
- Truffles: The Ultimate Italian Biodiversity Product
- Eating Biodiversity: The Regional Circuit
- Natural Wine and Native Varieties: The Connection
- Biodiversity on the Plate: Residential Food Programs
