Ampelography
(from the Greek ampèlon
– vineyard -, and àmpelos
– vine, shoot) is the science that identifies, names and
classifies
the many varieties of grapevines, through detailed analyses that take
into account the specific characteristics of the plant, its
morphology and the various stages of its development; a strong
impulse was given to this field of study by Count Giuseppe di
Rovasenda who, in his essay on ampelography published in 1877,
identified over 3500 species of vine.
But vine also
possesses an extraordinary aesthetical and iconographic fascination,
and it is precisely the successful combination between the
authors’
scientific contributions and the vivid magnificence of the
chromolithographic reproductions that make the three volumes of this
Universal
Ampelographyunique. For the first
time,
a single work encompasses the most beautiful collections of
ampelographic tables: the Traité
général de viticulture by
Viala and
Vermorel (1901- 1910), the Ampelografia
Italiana, published by the
Ampelographic Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1882, and
the Pomona Italiana
by Giorgio Gallesio (published between 1817 and 1839). The Universal
Ampelography gathers up to 551
cultivars,
illustrated and completed with descriptive sheets for each of the
vine species and related synonyms.