Genotypisation and recovery of ‘Garfagnana’ (north Tuscany) local grapevine varieties.

The objective of this project is the recovery, characterization and valorisation of local grapevine varieties of ‘Garfagnana’, a mountain area situated in the north part of Tuscany. About 130 accessions (vines) have been identified in old vineyards, characterised by OIV morphological parameters and genotyped at 14 microsatellite loci, including the 9 loci selected at international level. The microsatellite profiles have been compared with those of the varieties uploaded in the Italian Vitis Database (www.vitisdb.it) and other Vitis databases. The most interesting unique local varieties have been propagated by both cutting and grafting and planted in a specific collection vineyard located in ‘Garfagnana’. 50 unique genotypes have been identified: some of these match other Tuscany genotypes, some correspond to varieties cultivated in other Italian regions (mainly from the northern Italy), many match French varieties, and 25 appear genotypes currently identified only in ‘Garfagnana’. These results clearly reveal that the ampelographic platform of this area is completely different from that of the other Tuscan viticulture areas, and includes grapevine varieties from the north part of Italy and from France which likely arrived here during the Middle Ages thanks to the intense commercial activities along the famous ‘via Francigena’, whose an alternative branch to the main road called ‘Via del Volto Santo’, crossed the ‘Garfagnana’