The Harvest, its charm its history.

The harvest is the moment in which the grapes, grown in the vineyard throughout the year, are harvested and taken to the cellar to begin the winemaking process, which with the alcoholic fermentation of the sugars contained in the ripe berries will transform the must into wine.

The harvest represents not only an annual event linked to work in the vineyard, but also a ritual inserted in agricultural traditions throughout Italy and has always brought with it a great charm and has both historical and anthropological value, inherent in social sharing and in the territory.

The historical and anthropological value of the harvest dates back to very ancient times and has been handed down from generation to generation through agricultural work methods and peasant traditions, as well as for the importance of its cultural and traditional aspects that distinguish the harvest as an annual work event and social sharing in the territory.

In many respects, the harvest still takes on a ritual moment today, has a rather strong social and communion meaning, in which men and women come together and work together for the same goal. The social and ritual role that characterizes the harvest was even stronger in recent decades, when friends, relatives and neighbors gathered in the vineyards, all working together in the vineyards and then celebrating with a rich banquet.

Here we are in the heart of Abruzzo, the green region of Europe, not far from Campo Imperatore, in a territory that has proved generous for the properties of the land and for the climate, which, working together, allow these vineyards, mostly Montepulciano, to produce a full-bodied and warm wine, just like the territory that hosts it.

Respect for nature, care for the territory, the use of only natural fertilizers, allows the vine to be cultivated in its habitat, with the spontaneous herbs that grow around it, with a developed biodiversity, the plant is thus able to produce fruit balanced that express all the typical characteristics of the territory in which it grows. The wine obtained, completely organic, is a healthy, natural and genuine product that respects not only the environment and the ecosystem but also protects the health of those who consume it, the producer himself and those around us, being devoid of any component chemical inside.

There are numerous difficulties encountered in cultivating an organic vine; difficulties that recur every day, especially when the critical years put the producers under pressure who, to protect the harvest, must use only natural products. This, however, always leads to improvement and to give the best every year to offer a wine that is 100% organic and healthy.

To naturally combat the diseases that can affect the vine, copper is the product that best adapts to this need, within the limits allowed by law. The vine is a plant that tolerates this natural component quite well but it is still a product that is dispersed in the soil.

After the grape harvest, we proceed with the pressing.

Once the peasants crushed grapes in tubs with bare feet.

Today it is carried out using machinery called '' destemmers '' which allow the elimination of the stalks before they pass through the rollers, reducing the risk of crushing them and releasing the bitter and astringent vegetable juice.

The must is then placed in large vats to ferment for about a week.

The fermenting must is left in contact with the skins and seeds that release the typically red color and tannins.

Finally, there will be the racking followed by aging which consists in decanting the wine, purified from the solid residues and the marc into the barrels, where a second fermentation and a further transformation of the residual sugar take place.

Those who, like us, are lucky enough to go and visit a vineyard, have the wonderful opportunity to grasp the enchantment of Nature that dominates and determines everything , an opportunity to witness one little special story made of simplicity and tradition.

Behind the scene of a decadent giant

This is the sad little story, like so many scattered throughout the Italian territory, of a slow and inexorable decline of a noble palace and of the people who lived there, taken as an example to bring to the attention of the reader, a much wider phenomenon and which, as mentioned, involves our historical heritage throughout the Italian territory.

This palace was built in the seventeenth century by the noble local family, in whose hands it will remain until the early years of the new millennium.

Over the centuries, there have been numerous renovations, due to external events such as earthquakes, Unfortunately, arriving at the present days, in conjunction with the decline of the family, in recent decades, the building has suffered serious and irreparable damages, mainly due to neglect, which inevitably marked its fate.

The house is fully shored up, to avoid structural collapses, and today it is totally unusable. Completely emptied of any element of value, left to collapse in general indifference, today his sheltering pigeons and cats who have found the comfort of a house among its noble rubble.

As anticipated in the first line, this is a fairly common photo story in Italy, where, growing abandonment and wild overbuilding, they leave our territory with hundreds of thousands of forgotten buildings. The numbers are frightening, and trace the profile of a nation that is slowly crumbling, about 6% of all Italian real estate assets are on the way to becoming ruined, a percentage that continues to grow year after year.

Only for statistical purposes, here are some data: About 50,000 buildings are now in a state of neglect, including noble palaces, villas and castles . Approximately 20,000 between ecclesiastical buildings, churches, abbeys and convents in disuse.

The rediscovery of these places, excluding the romanticism of memories, hides a serious social problem: the erosion of the territory. Suffice it to say that it is estimated that over 10,000 square km of territory already occupied by abandoned buildings, in addition to a constant and increasing overbuilding, only in 2018, about 2 square meters per second were cemented, the equivalent of 15 football fields a day.

Today We let concrete devour the territory, the overdevelopment of suburban urban areas, the countless building abuses in protected and at-risk areas, new and useless commercial areas, forgetting the numerous abandoned places that could be redeveloped.

But to us all this seems to leave us indifferent, continuing to build and abandon, following the consumerist logic that has long governed our lifestyles and that will soon lead us to the dissolution of our natural and historical beauties.

The Thames's hidden treasure

It seems that almost every day there is another story about pollution of one form or another, in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Very often our own actions lead to that pollution and in many cases we can do something about it. This essay shows just a little part of the “treasure” trapped on the bottom of the Thames but, It could be, easily, find even in others rivers around the World.

Fly-tipping is a major cause of pollution in urban rivers in the UK.

Motorbikes leak toxic fuel, polluting the river directly, oil enters a slow-moving river it forms a rainbow-coloured film over the entire surface preventing oxygen from entering the water. On larger stretches of water the oil contaminates the feathers of water birds and when they preen the oil enters the gut and kills them.

Besides, other regularly fly-tipped items such as car parts, trolleys, safes, bicycles, bathtubs and armchairs trap silt and smother the natural gravels on the riverbed where plants and animals live and fish lay their eggs.

Only in UK’s rivers are also polluted by companies and agriculture and fewer than 15% are deemed to be in a favourable condition.

Over 97% of all the water on Earth is salty and most of the remaining 3% is frozen in the polar ice-caps. The atmosphere, rivers, lakes and underground stores hold less than 1% of all the fresh water and this tiny amount has to provide the fresh water needed to support the Earth's population. Fresh water is a precious resource and the increasing pollution of our rivers and lakes is a cause for alarm.

Each of Us should feel the responsibility to safeguard this treasure, so precious to the world and all its living beings, Plants, Animals and Human Beings.