Icomos (International Council on Monuments and Sites), the Unesco advisory body that deals with protected sites in the world, has officially "recommended" that the Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, in Veneto, are inscribed on the World Heritage List as a Cultural Landscape. Now the ball passes to UN World Heritage Committee, which will meet on July 7 in Baku (Azerbaijan) to examine and - presumably - promote the candidacy expressed by the Italian Government.
There is therefore the real possibility that this time, following the postponement decided a year ago at the meeting held in Manama (Bahrain), the hills of the Treviso area, where the famous bubbles are produced, can finally obtain the prestigious worldwide recognition. The Italian locality would thus reach places of worldwide recognized charm, such as the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal, Mount Fuji in Japan, the great Australian barrier reef, or even the plain of the Pyramids in Egypt. Icomos acknowledged that the insights into the dossier requested by Unesco members "have been carried out and are positive".
The technicians of the Veneto had in fact conducted new bibliographic and archival research, in particular in relation to the 'ciglioni', the mosaic aspect of the vineyards and the 'bellussera' system in the cultivation of vines. A research that had underlined how the changes in the cultivation techniques of the soil of the "buffer zones" have not influenced the characteristics of the area, which retains characteristics that have remained relatively stable over the last two centuries.
"This is the realization of a dream I've been pursuing for 10 years", commented the governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, one of the proponents of the candidacy which, however, rewards not only Veneto but all of Italy. "The recognition of the World Heritage consecrates and rewards the work of many people who, over the years, have broken their backs to give us the wonderful landscape of the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene".
