Piacentini Hills
The northern slopes of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines between the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions and the border separating the Reggio Emilia and Parma provinces form a picturesque wine region with a fairly homogeneous character.
On the area, on which marls predominate, sandstones, Pliocene sands and clays coexist with two DOC appellations covering the wines of Colli di Parma and Colli Piacentini.
Without a shadow of any doubt, you can bet, that vines had already been cultivated in the Piacenza area in the period between 2000 a 700 year B.C.E., which is confirmed by finds in the form of fossilized grape seeds and grape roots.
Much more documented information on the development of winemaking in these lands comes from Roman times. During one of the debates in the Senate, Marcus Tuliusz Cicero was to attack his political opponent Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who was from Piacenza, by publicly accusing him of unduly favoring wine from his homeland.
At the end of the 13th century, wines from the vicinity of Piacenza enjoyed widespread recognition, and their fame even reached neighboring France, where they were exported. To prevent the increasingly common practices of wine adulteration and to guarantee its originality, w 1391 In the year, the city statute of Piacenza introduced strict regulations on this subject.
Information about wines from the vicinity of Piacenza was also included in the sixteenth-century publication on wine and its production in Italy at that time by Sante Lancerio. Author, administrator of the papal cellars during the pontificate of Paul III, he spares no praise on his pages about them, giving them a long description, commensurate with their quality. This trend was continued over the centuries in numerous scientific works and belles-lettres, both in Italy, and abroad. Fact, that the wine was exported is confirmed by many different sources, of which the book from 1903 of the year entitled "The Pleasures of the Table” (The pleasures of the table), by Albert Cougnet and "Histoire du Luxe" by French author Brandillard.
Consortium for the Protection of DOC Colli Piacentini Wines
Pal. Agriculture
Via Colombo Cristoforo, 35
29100 Piacenza (PC)
ITALY