Vigna del Gallo
Palermo
The Vigna del Gallo of the Botanical Garden of Palermo holds 95 native vines, an invaluable heritage of Sicilian viticulture.
It is a tangible testimony of the island’s biodiversity. The Vigna del Gallo project was started in October 2018 by the Museum System of the University of Palermo and the Consortium for the protection of Doc Sicilia wines, with the collaboration of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Palermo.
The Vigna del Gallo is an area of about 200 square meters. It hosts native vines (among them Grillo, Nero d’Avola, Frappato, Perricone, Catarratto, Inzolia) and reliquary vines (Prunella, Muscaredda, Corinto bianco, Cutrera, Zuccaratu, Visparola). The Doc Sicilia, since its establishment in 2012 is committed to the protection of the values of cultivation and sustainable production and to the promotion of studies and initiatives for the defense of the vines that populate the “Sicilian wine continent”.
The Vigna del Gallo has returned to live in a portion of what was once the extensive vineyard purchased by the Royal Academy of Studies of Palermo in the Sant’Erasmo plain, and which belonged to Duke Ignazio Vanni d’Archirafi, where the Botanical Garden was founded in 1789. The Botanical Garden of Palermo is one of the most important Italian academic institutions. It is a huge open-air museum, boasting over two hundred years of activity that have also allowed the study and dissemination, in Sicily, in Europe and throughout the Mediterranean basin, of five thousand plant species, many native to tropical and subtropical regions. The peculiarity of this garden is represented today by the great variety of species hosted, which make it a place rich in expressions of different flora.
