The success of vine cultivation in Europe is linked to the continuous exchange of plant material, plants, seeds, shoots that have crossed borders and sailed seas for at least 7,000 years.

European populations have selected, domesticated, spread and crossed vines in relation to their own nutritional, climatic and cultural needs.

The events that accompany the circulation of different grape varieties, thanks to modern DNA analysis, have revealed themselves to be quite multifaceted, as well as much more complex than could have been assumed before scientific evolution. The maps of vine migration have historically overlapped with those of human movements, in the name of a fluid and continuous hybridization.
This inexorable movement has led to the collection of approximately 10,000 species of Vitis vinifera on our continent, although only a few have commercial significance for the production of wine and table grapes.

In light of such a complex picture, the word “autochthonous” progressively loses its literal meaning. In fact, it is no longer possible to refer this term to a simple spatial element; the analysis must be broadened to include, above all, the temporal factor, attributing the value of autochthonousness to the “place where a certain grape has manifested its best varietal characteristics over time”. This long history of typicality, of flows from the East that meet wild vines domesticated locally, has led our country towards a record of biodiversity, with 642 wine grape varieties registered in the National Register of Vine Varieties, of which the first ten in terms of vineyard extension occupy only 35% of the national vineyard surface, while in the world the first 10 cultivated vines occupy 50% of the total. A typicality rich in productive and communicative potential, but above all guardian of an invaluable cultural heritage, the main strength of the Italian wine sector.

And where the variability is higher, the global potential of the entire species is greater, in response to genetic erosion which, on the other hand, reduces the possibility of harmonious and stable development of an ecosystem. The number one enemy of varietal diversity is called "homologation of taste" and is widespread worldwide as a tendency to align the palate towards standardized, predictable and reassuring styles. The cultural, sensorial and experiential promotion action of Journey in Italy moves in the opposite direction to this massification, and in the exaltation of uniqueness dictates its own manifesto. Italian food and wine culture crosses the physical and mental borders of our country, today as then.