Valpolicella, very close to the province’s capital city, Verona, offers a rich and varied landscape. The territory of terraced cliffs, hills, and valleys is a sort of natural amphitheater, an explosion of vineyards, olive and cherry trees, dry stone walls, ancient gates, and sumptuous villas in that mild climate generated by Lake Garda, by the Adige and the slopes of the Lessini Mountains. Below the Lessinia plateau, a mountainous area consisting of Cretaceous limestone, is mainly hilly, with long finger-like ridges that divide the valleys, the most suitable for viticulture, on dry-stone terraces called “marogne”. There also is Cretaceous age limestone on large basaltic layers of volcanic origin. Farther south, sediments layering originated during the flooding of the Adige and its tributaries, creating the flat area.
The origin of the name Valpolicella is controversial. Some historians trace it back to the Latin expression Polys cellae, or “valley of many cellars”. Numerous fossil discoveries date back to the last glaciations, and prove the presence of vines since the Bronze Age and many findings from the VII to the V century. BC, dating back to the settling of the Etruscans and their encounter with the Reti Arusnati, testifying to developed practices of transforming grapes into wine.
There are five municipalities in the Valpolicella Classica, San Pietro in Cariano, where Farina was founded and still produces wine, along with Negrar, Fumane, Marano di Valpolicella and Sant'Ambrogio.
Together, they form the most historical area, well-suited to quality viticulture. In 1968, this delimited area was granted Denomination of Controlled Origin status by the Italian Agricultural Ministry, thanks to the varied facets of the terroir, which gives originality and typicity to its wines. A heritage of rare beauty, of which experts and passionate winegrowers have been able to perfect the winemaking by adopting virtuous practices for the management of the morphology of the soil and for the care and potential of the vineyards, reconciling the need for production with the sustainability of the environment.
The Valpantena, north of Verona, with the municipality of Grezzana and the East or “extended” Valpolicella, includes the Valleys of Squaranto, Illasi, Mezzane, Tramigna, and Alpone, and together, define the remaining border areas of Valpolicella.
