Study Reveals Italians Spent Thousands of Years Perfecting Grape Cultivation

Ancient grape seeds reveal the slow domestication process from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period.

The domestication of grapevine in Italy was a gradual process that unfolded over several millennia, according to a study recently published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mariano Ucchesu of the University of Montpellier, France, and his colleagues.

Today, global grape production yields approximately 80 million tons of fresh grapes and 26 billion liters of wine annually, with Italian wine playing a prominent role in the industry. While the history of viticulture is well-documented in parts of Asia and eastern Europe, there has been a notable lack of data from the western Mediterranean region. To address this gap, Ucchesu and his team analyzed over 1,700 grape seeds recovered from 25 archaeological sites across Italy and surrounding areas, covering a timespan of around 7,000 years, from the Neolithic to the Medieval Period.

Their morphological analysis revealed that at sites dated earlier than 1000 BC, the grape seeds closely resembled those of modern wild grapevines, indicating that grapes were primarily foraged rather than cultivated. From about 1000 BC to 600 AD, the majority of seeds exhibited traits more similar to domesticated grape varieties, though there was significant variation in seed size, shape, and the proportion of domesticated to wild grapes between different sites. By the Medieval Period, beginning around 700 AD, domesticated grape seeds had become widespread, displaying characteristics closely aligned with those of modern cultivated grapes.

Gradual Development of Italian Viticulture

These results indicate that grape cultivation in Italy likely began during the Late Bronze Age, followed by many centuries of gradual domestication, likely involving the mixing of wild and cultivated vines to produce new domestic varieties. The authors note that these results align with previous genetic and archaeological research, but stress the importance of future study at a wider variety of archaeological sites to fill in the picture of grape cultivation across the Mediterranean.

The authors add: “This research has made it possible, for the first time, to trace the history of the origins of viticulture in Italy. The appearance of the first domesticated grapes during the Bronze Age, in Italian archaeological contexts, points to a long-standing tradition of Italian wine heritage within the broader landscape of Western Europe.”

“This research was made possible thanks to funding received through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Curie Fellowship (2021–2023 n. Agreement-101019563-VITALY) and supported by the ANR MICA project (grant agreement ANR-22-CE27-0026). The successful outcome of the research is also due to the valuable collaboration of the archaeobotanical colleagues from CNRS-ISEM in Montpellier and all the Italian colleagues who generously provided the archaeobotanical materials, valuable advice, and suggestions for this research.”

Reference: “Tracing the emergence of domesticated grapevine in Italy” by Mariano Ucchesu, Sarah Ivorra, Vincent Bonhomme, Thierry Pastor, Biancamaria Aranguren, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Giovanna Bosi, Andrea Cardarelli, Anna Depalmas, Gianni de Zuccato, Assunta Florenzano, Juan Francisco Gibaja-Bao, Marta Mariotti Lippi, Niccolò Mazzucco, Anna Maria Mercuri, Mario Mineo, Miria Mori Secci, Renato Nisbet, Gianluca Pellacani, Paola Perazzi, Mauro Rottoli, Luciano Salzani, Marco Sarigu, Alessandro Usai and Laurent Bouby, 23 April 2025, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321653

Funding: M.U. received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (No 101019563 –VITALY). L.B. and S.I. were supported by the ANR MICA project (grant agreement ANR-22-CE27-0026).

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