The grapes that produce the famous Italian wine, Prosecco, grown in the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene hills in northeast of Venice, Italy, have been declared as a World Heritage site by the Unesco World Heritage Committee on July 7, 2019. This World Heritage Site status is expected to promote awareness, uplift tourism and boost the local economy of the place. With the hills of Prosecco, the Italian sites on Unesco’s list increase to 55, making Italy the country with the highest number of sites on the list.
The decision was announced in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee.
Italy had proposed two sites to the UNESCO Tentative list for 2019: the Mediterranean Alps and the Prosecco Valleys of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.
The hills of Prosecco in the Veneto region are a popular place for trekking, bike, and food experiences. It also has historic importance in the context of the first world war. The lush valley framed by the Dolomite Mountains has quaint medieval villages dotting the verdant landscape.
Criticism Associations like the Pesticides Action Network Italia (PAN Italia), WWF, Italy’s Legambiente and Colli Puri, have strongly opposed the introduction of the Prosecco hills into the World Heritage List. They had submitted to the deciding bodies an in-depth documentation against it.
The concern is regarding the type of agriculture used in the Prosecco hills that is too industrialised and intensive and ultimately harms the environment. Among the issues are the abundant use of pesticides, which has been damaging the quality of local water supplies and soil, and the fact that the high number of vineyards in the area has harmed local biodiversity of plants and crops. Research carried out by the University of Padua has stated that Prosecco vineyards have been causing high — and entirely unsustainable — levels of soil erosion. The hills used for the industrial production of Prosecco have been harmed by the excavations, the cutting down of century-old trees and the erasure of local flora, to make space for Prosecco vines. This has heightened the risks of landslides in the whole area.
LIPU, the Italian association for the protection of birds, has stated that 52 per cent of all bird species typical of the area have disappeared because of the intensive type of agriculture used.