Rural Architecture in the Pinerolo Area (Piedmont, Italy): The Search for Evidence of Viticulture

The rural landscape, understood as the highest expression of the interaction between natural and human factors, offers the observer glimpses into the history of places, shaped by the events of a community over the centuries. Climatic and environmental conditions, available raw materials, political circumstances, and the needs for sustenance and productivity have always shaped the character of vernacular architecture. This heritage is grounded in shared principles of necessity and possibility, yet it remains diversified depending on the context in which it develops.This essay focuses on the local variations of the rural landscape in the Pinerolo area, a Piedmontese territory southwest of Turin that has been influenced by alternating Savoy and French domination, with particular attention to the historical cultivation of vines, now only partially revived. Documented as early as the 10th century, vine cultivation spread across the plains and hillsides of Pinerolo, flourishing between the 17th and 18th centuries, reaching high levels of production and quality by the 19th century. This prosperity was halted by the arrival of phylloxera and mass industrialization. From the typological variants of the architectures to the terracing and the toponyms: the study aims to highlight the transformations of the local vernacular landscape related to viticulture. Starting from a brief overview of the types of local rural architecture, the article seeks to explore the variations and specific features connected to wine production through the case study analysis of the farmhouse La Bottegaria.