Paternopoli

Situated at a height of 496 metres above sea level, Paternopoli boasts a rich soil which is particularly suited to the production of grapes and olives. For this reason it is easy to imagine why the local economy is based mainly on agriculture and skilled crafts and that these occupations have been carried out for time immemorial.
Paternopoli is an ancient town, closely tied to its traditions yet with a keen regard towards innovations which might improve upon those traditions.
Precisely for this reason, today, the territory of Paternopoli is united together with a further 17 towns and villages of Irpinia within the ‘Comprensorio D.O.C.G.’.

Why Manimurci?

The hilly spurs which form the southernmost part of the area of Paternopoli, divided up today into the villages of San Quirico, Mattine and Pescocupo, was named by the Roman Conquerors as Manimurci (Font of Venus)
In this area, between the lV and lll centuries B.C., Greek colonists introduced the cultivation of the Hellenic vine, a name which with time became Aglianico. They found ideal conditions for the growth of the vine in a microclimate which was always dry due to the winds coming from the Valley of the Ansanto. The soil was compact, a clay-limestone mixture with volcanic material, low in organic substances but high in potassium and phosphates which gave the wine an unmistakeable smooth rounded flavour, with a slight hint of marasca cherries, wild violets and spices.

In Roman times, the Aglianico wine produced in the Manimurci area, sold in the taburnae along the nearby Via Appia and Via Napoletana roads, was, undoubtedly enjoyed by the Latin poet Virgil in 42-43 B.C., by the Greek historian Strabone in 40 B.C., by the philosopher of Spanish origin Seneca in 19 B.C., by the Latin writer Pliny the Elder in 77-78 B.C., by the Latin poet Claudiano in 400 B.C. and by many others who came to pay homage to the goddess Mefite.

In 1142, in order to secure favours from the Irpinian clergy, Guglielmo, son of the Norman King Ruggero, donated to the Abbey of Montevergine “ecclesiam Sanctii Clerici cum omnibus pertintiis sui vineis” (the church of San Quirico in the Manimurci area with all its attached vineyards)
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Aglianico produced in Paternopoli was enjoyed not only at the tables of the clergy and the nobility in Irpinia, but also in the Neapolitan area and this favoured the diffusion of the vine over the entire territory, so much so that in the inventory of the property of Chapel of Maria Santissima della Consolazione, drawn up on 29th March 1627, the presence of no fewer than 10 vineyards is registered as belonging to the chapel. In the inventory of the Church of San Nicola, drawn up on the 22nd June 1720, 41 vineyards were included in the list of the church’s property.

Nevertheless, in order to control the quality of the Aglianico, the decurionate of Paterno (now Paternopoli) presided over by the mayor Ciriacantonio Modestino, with the motion passed on the 15th December 1848, fixed the price of the wines at eighty grana a pair for good wines produced from the vines cultivated in the higher regions (first of them all the ancient Manimurci, now divided into the villages of San Quirico, Pescocupo and Mattine) and seventy grana for those produced in lower areas.

Unchanged over the centuries, during harvest time long lines of women balancing panniers full of mature grapes on their heads would descend from the slopes of Manimurci, along the well trodden paths, towards the vinification centres.
The wines produced in the hilly area of ancient Manimurci were mainly destined for the tables of Neapolitan nobles. Although some also satisfy the desires of the local well-to-do.