Stefano Orazzini
Prosecco Hills Vineyards
The territory of the Prosecco hills is located in Veneto, north of Treviso, on the border between the Po Valley and the Alps. Since 2019 it has been inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage Site as a cultural landscape. The territory includes in particular the wine-growing landscapes of the production area of the sparkling white Prosecco wine, famous all over the world.
It is a landscape characterized by the so-called “hogback” hills and “ciglioni”, vineyards cultivated on narrow terraces. Over the centuries, starting from 1600, this land has been shaped by man, to create the original today's landscape, consisting of entire hills covered with rows of vines that climb the slopes, interrupted here and there by small woods or characteristic villages.
The most photographically interesting areas of the Prosecco hills are those adjacent to the so-called Road of Prosecco, which winds through the vineyards between Valdobbiadene and Conegliano through the numerous and picturesque small villages such as Guia, Combai, and Miane.
For some of my photographs, I instead planned my photographic tours in the hours close to sunrise and sunset with my mountain bike, because many roads that climb the hills of the vineyards are narrow and very steep, with concrete or gravel roads and they cannot be traveled with normal cars. A real exploration of the territory, in a labyrinth of paths and wonderful landscapes that recall the scenarios of the oriental rice terraces of China, Vietnam, or T
