Italian Wines and Geology.

In the last few years Italy has been one of the biggest producers of wine, competing with France not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of the commercial value of wines. Today a real revolution is underway, as witnessed by the incredible variety of certified bottled wines on the market. Slow food clubs and the like contribute to the present request and for genuine typical products, the research for niches, and for the concept of “filiera” as a continuous chain from the vineyard to the cellars and finally the market. This request also involves cultural aspects, curiosities and historical roots not only related to wines, but also to the growing of grapes. Italy has a long geological history that includes the entire Phanerozoic and portions of the Precambrian metamorphosed in orogenic belts. The classical Mesozoic successions of the Southern Alps and central Apennines, the carbonate plattorms of Adria and the widespread terrigenous or pelagic sediments of the Cenozoic are world-famous. Grapevines thrive in a variety of environments, with substrates that range from granites to limestones, from gravels to schists, and from volcanic and/or volcaniclastic rocks to marls and clays. This book aims to familiarise geologists with the incredible variety of ltalian wines, noble wines and typical wines, while trying to highlight the complex relationships between rocks, soils, geomorphology, climate, exposure and grapevines. The book also tries to familiarise wine lovers with the concept of terroir, allowing them to appreciate the relationship between a product and its origin and to read the landscape with the eyes of a geologist (i.e. in 3D plus time), trying to unravel its past history.