Walking through the excavations of Pompeii, we found something we did not expect: real vineyards, planted inside the ancient city. This is where we want to start in telling you about the Pompeiano IGT, which bears the name of the city buried by Vesuvius in AD 79.
An area almost as large as the province
Recognised in 1995, the IGT covers the whole territory of the province of Naples, with a single exception: the island of Ischia, which has its own IGT, Epomeo IGT. Within these boundaries lie very different landscapes: the slopes of Vesuvius, the Campi Flegrei, the Lattari Mountains, the Sorrento peninsula and the islands of Capri and Procida.
Types and grapes
The production rules provide for white, red and rosé, also frizzante and amabile (medium-sweet), red novello and white and red passitos. The label may name Falanghina and Coda di Volpe among the whites, and Aglianico, Piedirosso and Sciascinoso among the reds. Piedirosso, known in Naples as "Per' e palummo" because the red colour of its stalk recalls a dove's foot, is perhaps the most Neapolitan grape of all.
The vineyards inside the excavations
The curiosity that struck us most concerns Pompeii itself. Since the 1990s the Archaeological Park has been running a research project that has replanted vineyards in Regiones I and II of the ancient city, in the spots where excavations found traces of cultivation, such as the Foro Boario. The grapes chosen are Piedirosso and Sciascinoso, grown following the instructions of ancient authors. Seeing a row of vines beside the Roman houses is a thrill we recommend.
Wine in ancient Pompeii
The excavations themselves show how important wine was in Pompeii: amphorae, wine presses, shops where wine was sold over the counter and frescoes depicting Bacchus and Vesuvius covered in vines. Before the eruption the slopes of the volcano were densely cultivated, and the local wine travelled around the Mediterranean. With its name, the Pompeiano IGT recalls precisely this long tradition. The same grapes listed in the production rules, led by Piedirosso and Sciascinoso, are still the most widespread today in the vineyards around the volcano and on the Lattari hills, where the vines often grow ungrafted on sandy, volcanic soils.
Where to taste it and what is nearby
After the excavations of Pompeii, move on towards Boscoreale and Torre del Greco, on the slopes of the volcano, or towards Gragnano, at the foot of the Lattari. Read Herculaneum and Pompeii: what to see, Vesuvio DOC and Penisola Sorrentina DOC, then the overview in The wines of Naples. For a complete itinerary through the region's wine areas, there is The wines of Campania.
Sources: MASAF – Production rules for DOP and IGP wines, Italian Wine Central – IGP Pompeiano, Fanpage – The harvest in the Summer Triclinium of Pompeii; Campania Region with AIS Campania, Guida Catalogo 2024 of the wine-growing and wine-making companies of Campania.
Photo at the top (Pompeii): Original uploader was KingCrimson at it.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.