Italy from 1939

From WWII to present, the Italian wine industry changed dramatically, from a disperse production system, mainly oriented to self-consumption and to low-value wines for local markets, to a modern industry able to satisfy a demanding domestic supply and a competitive international market. The chapter analyses this long process and its main drivers: technical changes in grapegrowing and in winemaking, domestic and international demand, national and EU policies. The industry’s post-war evolution and its drivers are discussed subdivided in four different periods: 1946-1970, characterized by a domestic consumption-driven expansion; 1970-1985, when the sector became increasingly structurally oriented toward exports; 1985-2000, marked by a shift towards higher-quality wines and by a strong increase in exports; 2000-2014, in which a change in the organization of the wine value chain occurred, with emerging players and an increasing vertical integration, leading to a successful competition on the international market. Throughout the period, the sector moved towards the production of premium wines and adopted a new attitude towards quality, under the stimulus of domestic and international demand. In this context, different types of firms found room: mostly small- and medium-sized wine producers deeply rooted in agriculture, but some quite big co-operatives and bottlers.