To mark their 190th anniversary, Mosnel hosted a conference on ‘Agroforestry’

Agroforestry. In Search of Tomorrow’s Viticulture

There is a word that comes up often when talking about Mosnel: balance. In the vineyards, in the cellars,in the glass. Balance is a principle that goes back to 1836, when the Barboglio family inherited the Camignone estate, and which today, 190 years later, Lucia and Giulio Barzanò have chosen to celebrate with a question directed at the future: how to preserve what has been built up over nearly two centuries?

For Mosnel, the answer lies in caring for the land. To mark its 190th anniversary, the winery has hosted a conference called ‘Agroforestry. In Search of Tomorrow’s Viticulture’, focussing on a topic now at the center of agronomic research and the debate on the future of vineyards, especially in the light of new climate challenges.

Agroforestry at Mosnel has deep roots: over ten years ago, in collaboration with Sata Studio Agronomico, a journey began that has progressively transformed the vineyards that bear the company’s name. Multifunctional green manure crops, 800 metres of hedgerow with native shrub species, and a spiral of 65 pairs of plants (hornbeams and hawthorns) planted in the Fibonacci sequence to give it an attractive visual impact. A landscape that has become an ecosystem, monitored annually through the Sata BioPASS protocol to assess the evolution of biodiversity of fauna and fertility of the soil.

“We grew up in the vineyards and learned from our mother that they are a living ecosystem, to be studied, respected, and supported,” say Lucia and Giulio Barzanò. “We wanted to create the conditions for a genuine coexistence between the vine and living organisms – both plant and animal – that can protect and enhance the vineyards.”

This was a choice that, at the time, was far from obvious: Lucia and Giulio Barzanò were among the first in Franciacorta, and pioneers in Italy as well, to apply the principles of agroforestry to viticulture. The agronomic benefits are concrete and measurable: the presence of trees mitigates climate extremes and environmental risks, improves water management, reduces the greenhouse effect, combats soil degradation, and increases organic matter and the fertility of the soil.

Agroforestry, moreover, transforms not only the soil and the vines: it transforms the landscape, and at the same time the experience of those who live in the landscape and pass through it. The vineyard that becomes an ecosystem also produces a more beautiful and welcoming landscape, giving a sense of well-being to those who work there, those who visit it, and those who simply look at it. Research in environmental neuroscience confirms what agricultural intuition had already sensed: contact with these environments nourishes something deep within the human brain. The Mosnel vineyard landscape is therefore not just a more resilient production system; it is designed for the well-being of people, too.

To explore these themes further, the conference – moderated by wine critic and author Armando Castagno – brought together different voices and disciplines, in the belief that the future of viticulture is built through a multifaceted perspective capable of integrating agronomy, landscape, ecology, and human well-being.

Speakers included

Pierluigi Donna, agronomist and founder of Sata Studio Agronomico, who outlined the project’s origins, choices for implementation, and evolution.

Marta Donna, junior agronomist at Sata, who presented data on biodiversity and soil quality monitoring; Valperto degli Azzoni Avogadro Carradori, a wine entrepreneur from the Marche region, who shared his experience of agroforestry and reforestation in a different viticultural context with similar values.

Giorgio Vacchiano, a researcher and science communicator at the University of Milan, who put agroforestry into the broader context of the resilience of forest and viticultural ecosystems.

Willem Brouwer, a Dutch-trained architect and landscape architect who taught for nearly twenty years at the IUAV in Venice and Cornell University, who proposed a multidisciplinary approach to agroforestry through seven architectural and landscape parameters, ranging from the concept of genius loci to the search for timeless quality in timeless places.

Andrea Bariselli, a psychologist, neuroscientist and science communicator, who explored how the human brain responds to the complexity of the natural landscape and contact with biodiverse environments.

“Those who cultivate the land are its custodians. This conference is our way of celebrating our 190th anniversary and honouring it with a multifaceted reflection open to voices from various disciplines.” With these words, Lucia and Giulio Barzanò opened the symposium in the vineyard, emphasising that caring for the landscape is not merely a production choice, but a responsibility involving the community and future generations.

An anniversary, therefore, that looks to the future. Because those who have built nearly two centuries of balance know that preserving it requires vision, as well as memory. And that the future is built with the same patience as is employed in the cultivation of a vineyard.