Building of the Vineyard and Winery research division

by Massimo Visone

Since 2006, the University of Naples Federico II has created a state-of-the-art university wine-making hub in Avellino, establishing a degree programme in Oenology and Viticulture.
The path that led to its establishment in the regional capital of Irpinia seemed as natural as it was complex.
Indeed, it implies the scientific consolidation of the traditional production of renowned wines, such as Taurasi, Greco di Tufo and Fiano, which are three varieties carrying the DOCG warranty mark (inspected and guaranteed denomination of origin).
The degree programme had temporary teaching headquarters at the Francesco De Sanctis Agricultural Technical Institute and since October 2012, it has been hosted in a new, completely autonomous location, where the Vineyard and Winery Sciences division was established, forming a branch of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Naples Federico II.
The Vineyard and Winery Sciences division of the Avellino University hub is located in a historic building at the intersection of Viale Italia and Via Raffaele Perrottelli.
The new 750-square-metre facility allows full integration of teaching and research activities, with teaching laboratories and a tasting centre.
The building is three storeys above ground level and set back from the road line (formerly Strada Statale 7bis di Terra di Lavoro), to which it is connected by two short curved walls that form an exedra and define the perimeter of a large agricultural lot, with an older gate featuring a brick pillar and pairs of Tuscan half-columns set against it, accompanied at the top by articulated bases to support vases.
The palace, listed in the cadastre of the late 19th century, consists of two terraced wings, probably additions, outlining the basement elevation, characterised by a straight ashlar of smooth plaster, within which windows with lowered arches alternate with square framed windows, reinforced at the corners.
In the centre there is the main portal with base ashlar, pier, abutment ashlar, round arch and key ashlar in white Irpinian stone.
The façade of the body of the building is three-partitioned by a system of four giant pilaster strips decorated with flat ashlar.
These are double in the angles and single in the centre, framing the two upper storeys, covered with smooth plaster and accompanied on each floor by a bay window with a flat frame and framed corbels, except for the balustraded balcony supported by corbels located above the portal.
On the side elevations the pilaster strips are single only in the corners, disappearing altogether on the rear façade.
Above the wide smooth frieze, capped by a cornice consisting of a prominent overhang, is a raised floor covered by a pitched roof.
The initiative to establish a degree programme in Avellino, with the planned construction of a technologically and structurally advanced teaching cellar, is intended to present the new university complex as a centre of excellence in the field of viticulture and oenology, both nationally and internationally.
An advanced hi-tech research centre offering all that is necessary to stimulate research, development and innovation, including technical, logistical, IT and telematics, promotion, training, support and consulting services, with the aim of creating an effective network of relations in the local area.

From the volume "Passeggiando per la Federico II" (second updated edition) edited by Alessandro Castagnaro - photographs by Roberto Fellicò - FedOAPress