Luigi Veronelli (2 February 1926 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

– 29 November 2004 in

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

) was an Italian gastronome, wine critic,

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

Career

In 1990, Luigi Veronelli founded the Veronelli publishing house with "the specific objective of thoroughly classifying the immense national gastronomic inheritance and contributing to the heightening of awareness of the touristic appeal of the loveliest country in the world".Veronelli Editore website
His classical training was evident in his writing, and he was often described as ‘the bard’ as he coined many of the common phrases used to describe Italian wine. ‘Vino da meditazione’ for dessert wines and ‘Vino da favola’ (which means fairy tale wine, instead of Vino da tavola) are just a few examples. Italian wine producers recognized him as their guru. In the words of Bruno Giacosa: "Gino (as he was known to friends) was all heart, he was the first person to teach us that a great wine was born in the vineyards. He was the first to point out the absolute necessity of carefully selecting grapes in the vineyards, the importance of terroir, of realising the potential of one vineyard or cru over another. He believed Italian wine could be brought to exceptional levels if we worked closely with the earth. Back in the (19)60s and (19)70s, no one thought like this. He truly was a pioneer."

References

1926 births 2004 deaths Writers from Milan Italian anarchists Italian food writers Italian publishers (people) Wine critics Wine writers Journalists from Milan Italian gastronomes {{Italy-activist-stub