Arziste [to resist / to preserve]

The essay defines agricultural understanding as the result of dedication, observation, adaptation and endurance. Its proverb, “the land is low,” expresses the need to bend physically and metaphorically before receiving even a small reward.

The first episode concerns Giuseppe Elia and Domizio Cavazza. In 1893 they recognised that the local Nebbiolo merited the distinct name Barbaresco and persisted for forty years until state recognition came in 1933.

The second begins in 1938 with the deaths of Giuseppe Elia and Giovanni Pasquero. Elisa Pasquero-Elia and her brother Alessandro managed the estate for ten years through war and Nazi-Fascist terror, preserving the family’s most important parcel, Sorì Paitin.

The third recalls the 1960s and 1970s, when few vintages gave growers the conditions for great wine. Maria-Luisa and Secondo harvested in October mud and cold, worked with oxen in dry periods and pruned in winter frost, yet maintained their connection to the land.

Perseverance is ultimately associated with pride in Neive, trust in a united community, resistance to political violence and the social life that followed hard work, when people gathered in stables for cards, music, laughter and wine.