Together with Fabio's parents, we drove from Nomi to the fields above Pomarolo, where we parked the car, and then carried on by foot, walking through the terraced vineyards until Savignano, a small fraction of the municipality of Pomarolo and located above the main village.
No Important thoughts(so far)
Maybe just this: the sense of separation that is felt(also in the case of Terragnolo and Nomesino) between the plain and the small fractions located on the flanks of the surrounding mountains. Down in the plain we have a rather'urban' environment but as soon as you drive up the hills it suddenly becomes very'rural': fewer houses, more compact agglomerates, less road infrastructure, the land is closer to the built environment
Important observations
From what we could see, the land between Pomarolo and Savignano is one of the largest terraced vineyards in the area. It looks almost like a valley and has the form of an amphitheatre. This is the fruit of deep human-made intervention in the shape of the land.
New vine plantations are super-professional-- and you can see this professionalisation everywhere a new vineyard is planted. To increase productivity, or the quality. In any case these are productivity-oriented engineered plantations. Some of the new fields have rows flowing downwards and not horizontally, making terraces superfluous. Again, this increases the exposure of the vines to sunlight, but apparently makes it easy for the rain to wash down nutrients.
Here and there, terraces are crumbling, but strangely they are not mended. Where they are mended, stones are glued with cement.
Savignano has still some remnants of past social life. Now it is just a dormitory. When she was a kid, Romana(Fabio's mum) used to come here and eat ice cream in the bar of the village. There is still a telephone sign testifying its presence.
The noise of the motorway is always very present - a constant roar.
Next to the church the same type of fountain as in Besenello, where people used to wash. Romana tells us that also in front of the church of Nomi there used to be such a fountain.
The counts Bossi-Fedrigotti are apparently owning most of the vineyards below Savignano. They make the Fojaneghe wine. Their website says they are making their own wine since 1697. Isabella Bossi-Fedrigotti is a renowned Italian writer, locating most of her novels in this area. She also writes for the Corriere della Sera.
Action points
find out more about the network of old wine typologies in the valley-- at the restaurant Silenzio in Rovereto they have a map!
No Important thoughts (so far)
Important observations
Action points