UNESCO adds Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene as World Heritage Site

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 09 July, 2019

The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene has become the 55th Italian site to be added to the World Heritage register, UNESCO has announced.

A World Heritage Site is defined as “a territory that is a global cultural heritage of exceptional universal value, to be protected, preserved, and handed down to future generations”.

The Prosecco Hills is only the tenth site to be registered under the category of ‘cultural landscape’, recognised as being “a visible result of constantly evolving interaction between man and the environment”.

Other cultural landscapes recognised by UNESCO include the Italian Piemontese wine regions of Langhe Roero and Monferrato, Portugal’s Alto Douro, Tokaj in Hungary and the French wine centres of Champagne, Burgundy and Saint-Emilion.

Innocente Nardi, president of the Consortium for the Protection of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG, said: “We are delighted at the declaration of the hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene as a World Heritage Site. The producers that make up the Consortium of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG have been at the heart of UNESCO nomination.

“They live and shape the uniqueness of our landscape, with its patchwork of steep, demanding vineyards that can only ever be worked by hand. Countless generations have forged our distinctive patchworks and unique grassy earth terraces, that we call ciglioni. Their labour has carved out from nature a unique identity that has led to UNESCO recognition.”

Nardi also led the special committee formed to manage the application to UNESCO, which took ten years to complete.

The Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is a small area at the heart of the Prosecco region. Its wines comprise just under 10% of total Prosecco sales in the UK by volume.

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