The Island of UNESCO Heritage Sites

The traditional art of dry-stone walling and the agricultural practice of bush-trained vine cultivation have been recognized as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2014.

Two UNESCO Heritage Sites in Pantelleria

A Historic Date

On November 26, 2014, the General Assembly of theUNESCO gathered in plenary session in Paris, inscribed the agricultural practice of the Bush-Trained Vine of Pantelleria among the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. For the first time, the prestigious international body granted this recognition to an agricultural practice,acknowledging its historical, cultural, and identity-based value. Viticulture on the island has, in fact, shaped the landscape over time, creating one of the most striking agricultural settings in the world. At the heart of this landscape lies the vine and its unique cultivation system — the bush-trained method. This form of vine training is the extraordinary result of an agriculture that, by working in harmony with nature, has achieved a benchmark of viticultural excellence admired and studied around the world. The low, basin-shaped bush-training system, where the plant grows close to the soil, represents a unique heritage that must be preserved, protected, and promoted.

The Art of Terracing and Heroic Viticulture

Today, in Pantelleria, the vineyard-sculpted landscape is a reflection of the balance achieved with nature through human effort and a deep awareness of environmental respect.

Terracing is the emblem of this union, which gave rise to the culture of stone craftsmanship from which the dammuso and the Pantescan garden were born—essential structures for practicing agriculture in a harsh and challenging environment.

In Pantelleria, the vineyard relies solely on human hands — no machine can replace the farmer and their skilled intuition. On the terraces, often marked by steep slopes, the vine is trained below ground level, in a wide basin designed to shield the plant and its fruit from the frequent and forceful scirocco and grecale winds that sweep across the island.

This practice also helps balance the growth of the aerial part of the plant with its root system, allowing the human hand to easily tend to the vines throughout their entire vegetative and productive cycle. It is precisely for this reason that in Pantelleria we speak of heroic viticulture: vineyard work here, in fact, requires a number of labor hours per unit that is at least three times greater than what is needed to cultivate a typical vineyard on the mainland.