The winemaking tradition in the Valcalepio is very old and dates back to Roman times. In fact, the equipment of legionnaires going into battle included a vine shoot-a piece of vine shoot-to be planted in the handkerchief of land given to them as a reward. In Bergamo, vine cultivation became so important to the Romans that they dedicated a temple to Bacchus in the ancient village of San Lorenzo. During the Lombard invasion vines suffered a production collapse and viticulture was practiced only on ecclesiastical properties. It was necessary to wait until 1243 for vines to be replanted in Bergamo, thanks to the victory of the free communes over Barbarossa and the Statute of Vertova, which required anyone who held communal lands for rent to plant a vineyard on them. In the late 1300s the Guelphs looted the homes of the Ghibellines of Scanzo, carrying away 170,000 liters of muscatel and red wine. At the end of the next century Benedictines settled in the Abbey of Pontida and the Abbey of San Paolo d'Argon, laying the foundations of what would become the most important wine centers in the Bergamo area. Between 1400 and 1600 Bergamo produced more wine than it needed, allocating the excess to trade with the Milanese. But in the 1700s as silkworm breeding developed, vines were replaced with mulberry trees, and in the early 1800s wine had to be imported from other regions. In 1886 the invasion of phylloxera destroyed almost all the vineyards in ten years, which were not only restored in a short time but the area was expanded. In 1950 the Chamber of Commerce promoted innovation in viticulture by pushing farmers to use new grape varieties. Although the current extent of cultivated land is greatly reduced, improved plantings and winemaking techniques have resulted in a high quality product that received DOC recognition in 1993 in red, white and muscat passito types.
