The Valpolicella Wine Region historical timeline

Origins

Human occupation here is exceptionally old: the Grotta di Fumane holds a sequence covering both Neanderthals and the earliest modern humans in Europe, including painted stones among the oldest known figurative art on the continent. Roman villas and vineyards followed on the lower slopes.

Turning points

Cassiodorus, writing for the Ostrogothic court in the sixth century, described a sweet wine from this area made from grapes left to shrivel -- the technique behind Recioto and, much later, Amarone.

Influential people

Pietro Alighieri, Dante's son, bought the estate at Gargagnago in 1353; it has remained with his descendants ever since, one of the longest continuous family holdings in Italy.

Cultural evolution

Under Venice from 1405 the valleys filled with country villas -- Villa della Torre at Fumane, Villa Serego at Pedemonte begun to a design by Palladio, Villa Mosconi Bertani at Novare -- as Veronese and Venetian families turned the hills into productive estates.

Present-day significance

Amarone is a modern wine: a dry version of Recioto commercialised from the mid-twentieth century, and given DOCG status only in 2010. It transformed the region's economics, and the vineyards now cover ground that a century ago grew cherries and olives.