There is a thin but very persistent thread that connects the glass of Refosco tasted today in the vineyards of Lower Friuli with the glass that Empress Livia, wife of Augustus, raised two thousand years ago. That thread is called Pucinum, the wine that Pliny the Elder included among the wines of the ancient world and which, according to the most recognized tradition, is the direct ancestor of Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso, an indigenous vine still grown today in the heart of the Aquileia area. This is the extraordinary continuity – between Roman roots and contemporary production – that the Aquileia Foundation will put at the center of the cultural debate during TourismA – Salone Archeologia e Turismo Culturale, scheduled from February 27 to March 1 in Florence, at the Palazzo dei Congressi. Aquileia and wine: a bond that comes from far Aquileia’s wine vocation is not an invention of territorial marketing. Historical sources and archaeological finds confirm this with extraordinary consistency: amphorae with shapes specially produced in the Aquileian area, jugs, mosaics with scenes of grape pressing, funerary monuments with images of winemakers and coopers with their tools – everything tells about a city that already produced, traded and exported wine on a large scale in Republican times. Strabo described Aquileia as an emporium of primary importance for trade with the Alpine and Danube regions; The waterways allowed wine to reach the most remote lands of the empire. And excavations by the University of Udine at the protohistoric site of Canale Anfora, in Terzo di Aquileia, have traced this calling back to the Bronze Age, finding wine remains in a cup dating from more than three thousand years ago: the oldest documented case of consumption of the drink in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The vine symbol of this story is Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso, which the Romans called Pucinum – or Pictaton, in the Greek version – and which Pliny placed at the top of his personal ranking of fine wines. Livia Augusta was so passionate about it that she attributed her longevity to it, living to the age of 86. Today, the DOC Friuli Aquileia Consortium protects its heritage, in an area where the vines literally have their roots among the remains of Roman villas, walls and old consular roads. A national project, a local voice Aquileia’s presence at TourismA is not an isolated event: the UNESCO site will participate in the ArcheoVinum conference, promoted by the University of Bari as part of the PNRR CHANGES project, an eno-archaeological route that crosses Italy from north to south, from Aquileia to Faragola in Puglia, via the Colosseum, Pompeii, the Etruscan Maremma and the Roman villas of the Veronese area. An opportunity to show how the combination of wine and archaeology, far from being a folkloric operation, represents one of the most effective keys to describe Italian cultural and landscape identity. The conference will be held on Saturday, February 28 (9:00 am – 1:00 pm) and will be attended by Cristiano Tiussi, director of the Aquileia Foundation, and Antonio Clementin from the Brojli agricultural company. At the center of their relationship is an exemplary case: the Vigna delle Thermae Felices Constantinianae, a historic vineyard located in one of the most important archaeological areas of the city, between the late antique Great Baths, the Roman theater and the Byzantine walls. Since 2021, Brojli and the Aquileia Foundation have jointly cared for this vineyard and produced a wine that bears the old name of the spa complex. The harvest is open to visitors: a simple gesture that transforms an agricultural act into an authentic cultural experience. The six wineries, a mosaic of memories Aquileia at TourismA, will also have the opportunity to present a preview of the new brochure dedicated to the combination of wine and archaeology, the result of the collaboration between the Foundation, the Municipality of Aquileia and the six wineries of the area: Barone Ritter de Záhony, Brojli, Ca’ Tullio, Donda, Puntin and Tarlao. Each of them has an identity relationship with the city’s millennial history: Donda cultivates vineyards in areas where the remains of Roman villas emerge; Puntin is located along the old road to Tergeste, between mausoleums and grave monuments; Ritter de Záhony has its roots in the complex of the ancient Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria, built on an early Christian basilica; Tarlao stretches along the road that connected Aquileia with Iulia Emona, through which the emperors passed on their march to Italy.
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