Il vino di Monte di Procida
In Monte di Procida, as well as in all the Campi Flegrei, the vines survive on a free foot, that means they are not grafted on the American cuttings (roots), as it was done in almost all Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. In fact, the phylloxera parasite from North America did not take root in the Phlegraean area, perhaps because of the volcanic soil that made the vines more resistant to attack.
The hilly soil of Monte di Procida, which favored a widespread exposure to the sun, has contributed to the spreading of the cultivation of the vine and consequently to the production of appreciated and renowned wines that in the nineteenth century were sold in the city of Naples at prices much higher than those of other noble wines of the South. These wines were often referred to in sales announcements in Naples as a superior term of comparison. The wines of Monte di Procida have also been mentioned in Neapolitan classical poems and songs.
The main cultivations concern Aglianico, Piedirosso (pèr'e palummo) and Falanghina, but a recent enological dictionary of the second '900 has surveyed about 80 varieties of wines present in all the Phlegraean Fields, the most part of which, unfortunately, is today extinct at local level.
