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TOLLO AND ORTONA GRAPES
The vines known as Regina bianca or, more commonly, Pergolone, which produce
dessert grapes, are still very widespread in the area between the Rivers
Alento and Sangro, in the north of the Province of Chieti.
Tollo, Ortona, Crecchio, Arielli, Canosa Sannita, Poggiofiorito, Giuliano Teatino,
Miglianico, Francavilla, Ripa Teatina, Frisa (north-west territory bordering
on Ortona) and San Vito Chietino (north-west territory bordering on Ortona)
are the territories associated with this fruit.
Top viticulture experts tend to agree that the European vine is indigenous and
even existed before humanity.
In Abruzzo the use of vines, and hence grape-growing techniques, date back
to the Iron Age. It seems that the Etruscans introduced the technique of supporting
vines with trees. The great poets of antiquity were also fascinated
by viticulture in the Abruzzo area and there are many descriptions of vines
and wine in their works. Ovid celebrated his Sulmona, the cradle of Abruzzese
viticulture, writing: “A land given by Ceres, rich and so fecund with grapes...”
(Amores, 11, 16, 1-2).
Information about cultivation of grapes in the Province of Chieti can be found
in several documents as early as the end of the 1200s and in the centuries
that followed there was an evident lively trade in wines, mainly along the
coast. Numerous ships loaded with wine sailed from the ports of Ortona and
Vasto, in fact, and took enormous amounts of it to the northern markets and
to those on the nearby Balkan coasts. Minutes drawn up by the Council of
the Decurions, who governed the town of Ortona at that time (1566), state
that the Council approached Charles de Lannoy, who had been given the town
by Charles V, saying that Ortona made its living with “olives, vines and fruits
of those vines” (A. Falcone, Ortona nel settecento, page 27). In the periodical
“L’agricoltura abruzzese” - July, August, September 1916 – nos 7-8-9 –
the lawyer Nicola Berardi, consultant to the municipal council of Ortona a
Mare, wrote “Amidst so much failure, an excellent grape harvest is expected,
however, and Pergolone has been picked. These superb dessert grapes
are usually exported to Switzerland and about 3,000 quintals have been
shipped, at prices of 33-37 lire per quintal”. In issue 3 of the same review,
March 1926, the oenologist Renato Toni wrote as follows in his report La
coltivazione dell'uva da tavola: “Our vineyard workers are improving and perfecting
their skills so that they are even experimenting more precise cultiva-
tion without calling upon specialists. Many young and intelligent figures are
concentrating their enthusiasm on the vineyards to intensify crops and increase
income. Their management expertise can be applied thoroughly to
this important dessert grape industry”. Land register sheets that refer to the
municipal territories of Ortona and Tollo indicate average grape production
in the six-year period 1923-1928, stating that 21,547 quintals of dessert grapes
were produced (Istituto Centrale di Statistica del Regno d’Italia, Catasto
agrario VIII Compartimento degli Abruzzi e Molise – Province of Chieti, 1929).
Several photographs in Chieti State Archive show Ortona’s 11 th Grape Festival,
held sometime in 1930s or 1940s. At that time there were typical parades
of allegorical floats whose theme was the grape harvest, with the enthusiastic
participation of local folk and the Authorities (Chieti State Archive, photographic
documentation of the towns in the Province of Chieti in the 1930s.
Published by Tinari, Villamagna).
Cultivation of dessert grapes gradually extended and quite constantly until
the time immediately after WWII, when it boomed to the point that in 1,355
hectares were reached in 1941, followed by 1,425 hectares in 1947, 8,025
hectares in 1960, and the peak at 13,605 hectares in 1974. Sometime in the
1950s this rapid growth began to embrace the Tollo area too and many new
installations were added. Here farming of dessert and wholesale grapes developed
to the point that the biggest cooperatives are now located on Tollo
territory and include Ortona producers.
The Cardinal cultivar is a more recent introduction than the historic
Pergolone. The variety comes from America and was first introduced to Italy
in the Latina area, then it was taken to Apulia and subsequently to Ortona.
In 1953 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo of Ortona brought some Cardinal rooted
vine cuttings back from a visit to the Formentini vineyard in San Ferdinando
di Puglia. In 1954 he planted the first hectare of Cardinal grapes in the
Cocciadomo district of Ortona.
In 1955 Vincenzo Cavuto began to grow Cardinal grapes in Tollo. In 1965, by
pure chance, it was discovered that the varietal would produce early fruit if
cultivated in a greenhouse. In the Foro district of Ortona several Cardinal
vines were being grown with tomatoes that were covered for the winter to
achieve early ripening and this was the moment when Cardinal also
matured early.