'L'importanza di essere franco' (Girardi, De Toni - Vini Franchi, 2024)

The book The Importance of Being Franco tells a story that begins between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. European viticulture, and with it Italian viticulture, was at risk of being destroyed during that period due to the rapid spread of an aphid that became tragically famous, known as phylloxera. It took several years to arrive at a solution that allowed European vines to avoid being irreparably lost. What had not yet been destroyed had to be grafted onto American rootstocks. Almost everything was uprooted and replanted using grafted cuttings. In that almost survive the own-rooted vineyards that have reached us, witnesses of that millenary culture that binds man to the vine, living museums, a heritage of biodiversity and memories.

The Importance of Being Franco by Girardi and De Toni is the tale of a journey through some of the vineyards that still exist on their own roots in Italy and the family sagas of the winemakers who have preserved them until today with their choices, sometimes outside the logic of convenience. It is about,but also of the narration of the history of the territories where we found them and the characteristics that make them unique in the Italian wine scene. Contributing to what might seem like a book of wine narrative are the contributions of Prof. Mario Fregoni and Dr. Diego Tomasi, as well as the collaboration of the food and wine journalist Domenico Liggeri, finally giving voice to the winemakers who have always worked with these grapes.

Free-standing viticulture raises a series of questions that can no longer be ignored by the world of winemakers, and the market cannot continue to pretend that there are no wines that, due to their peculiarities, are among the best representations of the viticultural history of a place. Free-standing viticulture demands to be known, certainly not considered as the only possible path, but certainly as one of the possibilities, along with its wines.

THE AUTHORS

GIANPAOLO GIRARDI

He is originally from Canezza, a village at the entrance of the Valle dei Mòcheni - Bersntol,

he has a degree in history and is a passionate wine enthusiast.profession. In 1984, he founded Proposta Vini, a company where work is always combined with the values of ethics and awareness. He manages the company catalog which, year after year, pursues a true investigation into the best expressions of European wine regions. Research and study result in publications in the field of historical enology and original interdisciplinary volumes on history, art, anthropology, intertwining knowledge and collaborations. From 2003 to 2023, he published, in collaboration with Iris Fontanari Martinatti, a series for Proposta Vini dedicated to wine consumption in the main Italian cities at the height of their splendor: Venice, Rome, Milan, Verona, Florence, Padua, Trento, and Naples. In 2018, he published with his daughter Giovanna the poetry book "Florence". In 2021, again with Iris Fontanari Martinatti, he published "I Kròmeri della Val dei Mocheni. Die Fersentaler Krumer".

MARTA DE TONI

Author and passionate explorer; she loves to listen to the stories of the people she meets, immerse her hands in the earth and sit around a table with a glass of wine in hand. Curious about everything she does not know, she loves to study and delve into both the tangible and the intangible. More than anything else, she loves the nature that surrounds her, to which she feels particularly connected, and of the plants, she particularly loves what is not seen, their underground nature. It is to the roots that she has dedicated her research: the roots of the vines, the history, the lives of men, and her soul.