Bolgheri: the Viale dei Cipressi also at risk with offshore wind project
DOC producers' letter to Minister Pichetto Fratin: we agree with the ecological transition but the effects of the works on the landscape must also be considered
Key points
When care for the environment risks destroying the territory. It is a real green short-circuit that is taking place in Bolgheri (Livorno), in northern Tuscany, where a project for an offshore wind farm in the Ligurian Sea risks - with its on-shore infrastructure - to devastate one of the most identifiable and representative wine-growing landscapes of Tuscany and Italia.
This is the meaning of an open letter that the winegrowers united in the Consortium of Doc Bolgheri addressed to the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin.
The Sassicaia territory
We are in the province of Livorno, in a countryside sloping down towards the sea that became famous in the 1970s and 1980s driven by the resounding international success of a wine: Sassicaia, so much so that the name of the entire denomination is Bolgheri and Bolgheri-Sassicaia.
But then over time the DOC has grown far beyond the famous label considered one of the progenitors of the Supertuscan and has attracted to the province of Livorno established producers both from Tuscany (Giovanni and Ambrogio Folonari) and from other regions such asAngelo Gaja, Ziliani (Berlucchi) or like Antonio Capaldo (Feudi di San Gregorio). But above all, by setting up in recent years a great work of growth in production and positioning of the entire denomination. A DOC that has recorded very positive results despite the not easy trend for red wines, both on international markets and on the wine tourism front. So much so that in recent years it has been considered one of the best performing denominations in Italia.
The impact of the offshore wind project
Now this new tile in the 'renewable' offensive. "At the centre of it all," explain the Bolgheri DOC Consortium, "is the project of the offshore wind farm floating in the Ligurian Sea and above all the projects to connect to the national electricity grid that would affect the Tuscan coastal strip and inland areas. The project analyses reveal potential critical issues related to the passage of the power line through areas of high landscape and agricultural value.
