Valpolicella is one of the most important wine-producing areas in Italy; now we can claim is also among the oldest ones. Maybe the oldest one. The oldest grape in Valpolicella is 6,300 years old and comes from the prehistoric site of Colombare di Villa, Negrar di Valpolicella (VR), which was inhabited between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

These are the most significant results of excavation campaigns managed by the Department of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the University of Milan, with the collaboration of the Superintendence of archeology, fine arts,  and landscape for the provinces of Verona, Rovigo, and Vicenza. The campaigns have been carried out under the scientific direction of Umberto Tecchiati, professor of Prehistory and Prehistoric Ecology at the University of Milan. The research began in 2019 and now is in its third year, is carried out with the support of the Municipality of Negrar di Valpolicella. It was made possible thanks to the sampling campaign organized and financed, in the autumn of 2020, by the Superintendence of Verona at the Colombare di Villa site. Not far from this site, mosaics from the floor of a large and beautiful Roman villa had recently been found.

The discovery of vine pollen and grape seeds in the oldest archaeological layers confirmed that the plant, although probably in the wild, must have been cultivated in this area of the Lessini Mountains as long as 6,300 years ago, in the Recent Neolithic period.

Different samples were taken from the archaeological layers: soil, animal bones, plant micro, and macro-trees. Palynological, archaeobotanical, and archaeozoological research confirms that the Colombare di Villa site was inhabited by farmers, who cultivated cereals and raised domestic animals. In order to obtain further confirmation of the possible continuity of production activities over the millennia, the excavation staff will be going to continue with laboratory analyses, focusing mainly on the remains of ceramic containers, in search of traces of wine. In fact, wine-making was already possible in prehistoric times, but confirmation that the grapes certainly consumed at the Colombare site were also transformed into wine will only be possible as the campaign continues.

The results of the latest laboratory analyses were added to those of the stratigraphic excavation and topographical surveys carried out during the 2021 excavation campaign. That campaign concluded on October 1 after six weeks of research and confirmed that the site has been frequented for a very long time: approximately 3,000 years.
For the laboratory analyses, the State University could count on several researchers groups, like the BRAVHO radiocarbon laboratory of the University of Bologna (a team coordinated by Sahra Talamo, professor of Chemistry of the Environment and Cultural Heritage). They pre-treated the archaeological bone samples for radiocarbon analysis. Other groups are the AMS of Mannhein for dating and the Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology of the University of Milan coordinated by Marica Orioli, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, who provided support for the soil analyses. Finally, palynological research was conducted by the Laboratory of Palynology and Paleobotany coordinated by Anna Maria Mercuri, Professor of Systematic Botany, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

And the studies are going on…