Wine-producing landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato – UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The wine-producing landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato represent six area of excellence, extensive rolling hills covered with vineyards as far as the eye can see, fragmented by small highland villages and prestigious medieval castles, where wine production has for centuries been the hub of the economic and social life.

Stretching over 10,789 hectares, located within the boundaries of the Provinces of Alessandria, Asti and Cuneo (three in the district of the Langhe, two in that of Alto Monferrato and one in Basso Monferrato). The site is characterised by a rich, diverse system of farmhouses, wine producers, oenological industries, community wine cellars, public and private wine cellars, which in some cases constituted places of symbolic value for the history and development of wine production and throughout Italy and the world. Furthermore, there are also some products of a "vernacular" nature, such as the 'infernots' (underground caves) dug into the Pietra da Cantoni used for the domestic preservation of the most prestigious wines.

These areas are the very image of a European wine-producing landscape thanks to their great aesthetic quality, due to the legendary tradition of the cultivation of vines, wine-producing processes, a social and rural context and an economic fabric based on the culture of wine.

Landscapes that are an exceptional example of man's interaction with his natural environment thanks to a long and constant evolution of the techniques and knowledge of wine production leading to the best adaptation possible of the vines to the characteristics of the soil and climate – so much so as to become an international reference point.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is protected by an articulated system of protection that includes the various levels of territorial planning, as well as the national protection laws that are in addition to the regional projects, such as that of the first Piedmont Landscape Plan adopted by the Regional Council with Regional Council Deliberation nr. 53-11975 dated 4th August 2009, identifying 76 landscape ambits based on their main characteristics and the most important factors of differentiation and the further study of all naturalistic, environmental and historical-cultural aspects.