Watch Vendemmia

In today's modern world, when nearly everything is done with the touch of a button, the residents of Italy's picturesque Cinque Terre still make wine by hand, as their ancestors have done for over 1,000 years. They also welcome the three million tourists who each year choose the Cinque Terre for their coastal Italian vacation destination, something their ancestors would have never foreseen. As the demand for local agriculture declines and is replaced by the tourists' need for hotels and restaurants, a modern-day fight for sustainable tourism begins to rise. Even the 1,000-year old Sciacchetra winemaking tradition now has an uncertain future. Cultural preservation and environmental balance teeter on the edge of survival as the seaside villages in this UNESCO World Heritage Site face an uncertainty marked by political change, natural disaster, and conflicting goals.

VENDEMMIA documents the present day challenges of the Cinque Terre through the eyes of its extraordinary Ligurian residents, and also those standing on the outside, anxiously observing the area's rapid fire transformation, and asks the essential question: Is it possible to preserve the future of the Cinque Terre without sacrificing the past?

Vendemmia is a 2013 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 17 minutes.