Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Meeting in Marsala, between technique and art

Use computerized management techniques in the agricultural field, in order to maximize the efficiency of entrepreneurial choices. This is the aim of the AVIGERE project, "Application of precision viticulture to some Sicilian companies for energy saving and eco-compatibility", financed in 2011 by the PSR 2007/2013 with Measure 124 - Cooperation for the development of new products , processes and technologies in the agricultural, food and forestry sectors.

A project that sees institutions, bodies, associations and wineries united for a single objective: improving the sustainability of the Sicilian vineyard. And to do so it was decided to use the most innovative technological resources, such as those of GPS systems for the control of mechanical means used in the administration of pesticides and fertilizers or in separate waste collection. The project activities started on 14 October 2011 and are coming to an end. In fact, they will end in October. In these days the spotlight is on the studies and results achieved. In fact, on 20 and 21 June an international meeting was held, promoted by IRVOS, in Marsala, the "European City of Wine 2013" as well as home to the Institute's experimental cellar.

“The AVIGERE project and winemaking models in Mediterranean environments” was the title of the conference hosted at the San Pietro Complex. The Regional Councilor for Agricultural and Food Resources Dario Cartabellotta and the mayor of Marsala Giulia Adamo opened the proceedings. Moderating the interventions were Giancarlo Moschetti, President of the Degree Course in Viticulture and Oenology of Marsala, Lucio Monte, director of IRVOS, Rosario Di Lorenzo, professor of Viticulture at the University of Palermo and Felice Capraro, director of the Winery Companies Innovation Transfer Unit of IRVOS. “The project – explains Capraro – proposes to apply the principles of precision viticulture to the wine supply chain. It is a vineyard management strategy that exploits the most innovative technological resources to recognize the actual needs of the plants and allow the planning of differentiated agronomic interventions". In the vineyards of the project's partner wineries (Cantine Settesoli, Tasca d'Almerita, Cantine Donnafugata, Cantine Rapitalà) a WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) will be installed which will allow the variables of temperature, humidity and soil water content to be monitored. “All the information acquired and the respective thematic maps,” continues Capraro, “will form the information layers of the SIT, or the Territorial Information System, which the winery technicians are able to use for the purposes of site-specific management. The project also includes - he concludes - the creation of a WebGis for the dissemination of knowledge through the internet platform". To date, work on the company's GIS is being completed, thematic maps were produced by Remote and Proximal in 2012, and vegetative-productive surveys are underway on the guide vineyards of the Catarratto, Grillo, Grecanico and Nero d'Avola varieties. The website has been created and is already active www.ats-avigere.it. The WSN network in the guide vineyards is being completed and will be operational by the first ten days of July. Finally, three satellite image acquisitions are scheduled for 2013, in June (already acquired), July, August, and an aerial shot, with a flight in mid-July, coinciding with satellite acquisition.

But the international meeting organized within the initiatives for "European City of Wine Marsala 2013" also saw moments of tasting and art. The artist Ziganoi has conceived an installation, which can be visited until 7 July at Palazzo Fici - municipal wine shop from 10am to midnight, dedicated to the universe of oenology and which encompasses the dynamism of art and the vitality of wine. A sculptural installation, a pictorial one and two canvases that use a new concept: not simple paintings hanging on the wall or, in any case, with a two-dimensional shape, but a three-dimensional reality, "all-round canvases" that wrap around a wooden support in a sinusoidal manner . In this way, to see the canvas you need to walk around it and admire its development in space. The ARTEVINOZIGANOI project aims to recognize a corporate sensitivity towards the world of art and also wants to underline the right creative dimension of wine, which very often escapes the consumer. The initiative was promoted by the Regional Institute of Wines and Oils of Sicily and by the Municipality of Marsala.