Thanks to the climate and the morphological features of the region, vines were already planted in the area in ancient times; the finding of seeds of Vitis Silvestris dating back to the Bronze Age testifies to it.
On the other hand, numerous finds dating back to the Roman period such as chalices and other vessels testify to the production of wine in ancient times. It was used during ceremonies and religious rituals.
The first written sources date back to the Early Middle Ages and they show the presence and trade of vineyards. At that time representations of bunches of grapes and vine shoots were also realized; today they are located in some churches of the area such as the Pieve di Santa Maria.
Still in the Middle Ages the monks and religious institutions had a key role in developing the vine cultivation that is tightly connected with the Christian community due to cultural and liturgical reasons.
Thanks to the measures taken to reclaim the lands, they started to flourish; the monks indeed were able to manage the viticulture and vinification process thanks to the donations they received from the noble families. According to tradition, in 807 King Pipino offered the San Zeno monastery of Verona a church in Bardolino (San Zeno) with its plots of land.
That church held a “caneva” (basement) mentioned in some documents dating back to the twelfth century that was used as a warehouse for products and stuffs such as the grapes carts through which farmers paid the rent to the monastery.
Later in the fifth century viticulture had a significant development and with the Republic of Venice it played a key role in the economy of the region.
The Cantina Zeni of Barodlino also holds a wine museum.
It holds exhibitions of old instruments and machineries used for harvest and vinification in ancient times; but it also tells us a story about the grapes transformation, while deepening our knowledge of the different phases of production: from plantation to harvest, from grapes transformation to bottling. Discover more through the museums page!
Further information about local wineries producing Bardolino DOC see the chart here.