Vitis 54 (Special Issue), 261–264 (2015) Sustainable use of genetic resources: the characterization of an Italian local grapevine variety (‚Grechetto rosso') and its own landscape E. BRUNORI 1) , P. CIRIGLIANO 2) and R. BIASI 1) 1) Department for innovation in biological, agro-food and forest systems (DIBAF), Tuscia University, Viterbo, Italy 2) Consiglio per Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria (CREA), Research Unit for Viticulture, Arezzo, Italy Summary Biodiversity and landscape are two tightly liked environmental traits, so that the loss in traditional agricultural landscapes imply the erosion of precious local germplasm. The on-farm conservation of local cultivars assure the preservation of optimized environ- ment-genotype interactions, unique multifunctional agro-ecosystems and landscapes. Therefore, the safe- guard of endangered genetic resources has to consider genotyping, phenotyping, but also the characterization of the related landscapes. The objective of this study was to provide the characterization of a local Italian grapevine, i.e. 'Grechetto rosso' through an integrated approach based on conventional ampelographic and molecular determinations and on the characterization of the landscape in the innate environment. 'Grechetto rosso' has affinity with 'Sangiovese', of which keeps the main ampelographic characters. Nonetheless, its diver- sity is prevalently expressed in berry characters, like the occasional presence of a not uniformly pigmented pulp, week epicuticular waxes and a red-coloured skin. This berry characters appeared to be related to the micro-environmental variables, i.e. the occurrence of cold-temperate nights during the ripening period and a rather temperate climate of the innate area. The 'Grechetto rosso' wine-grape-growing area is charac- terized by high naturality, and the 47 % of the 'Gre- chetto rosso' vineyards are still mixed with olive groves (traditional arrangement), while the remaining surface is represented by either specialized (46 %) or neglect (residual/relict) (7 %) vineyards. 'Grechetto Rosso' vineyards are distributed even in steep and extremely steep slope areas. The resulting description represents an example of useful information for promoting a sus- tainable use of grapevine genetic resources based on the in situ conservation on farm. K e y w o r d s : agro-biodiversity; in situ conservation; tra- ditional agricultural landscape; Vitis vinifera. Introduction Among the cultivated species of the Mediterranean area, grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the most sub- jected to erosion phenomena at different levels, i.e. surfac- Correspondence to: Prof. R. BIASI, Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems, via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo, Italy. E-mail: biasi@unitus.it es, genetic resources, vineyard agroecosystem complexity . The in situ conservation may represent a strategic tool for safeguarding unique germplasm, viticultural surfaces, en- vironments of high ecological meaning. In fact, on-farm conservation of local genetic resources ensure the retention of the evolution and adaptation processes of crops to their innate environments (JARVIS et al. 2000) and implies sus- tainable production because environmentally adapted crops have low dependency on outside-farm inputs (ALTIERI and MERRICK 1987) and better adapt to climate change. In many sensible area subjected to multiple environmental risk fac- tors, the in situ preservation of local genetic resources beside counteracting land consumption assure the main- tenance of multifunctional agricultural landscapes (BIASI et al. 2010a, WEIBULL et al. 2003). The goal of a sustain- able agriculture as promoted by new Rural Development Programme (2014-2020) in accordance to the European 2020 Horizon objectives will also imply the safeguard of agro-biodiversity and landscape, and the reduction of habitat fragmentation or simplification. In the Latium re- gion (central Italy) many local grapevine cultivars are en- dangered together with their own landscapes (BIASI et al. 2007). This study focuses on a local grapevine genotype, i.e. 'Grechetto rosso', and provides the characterization of its molecular and ampelographic traits together with the synthetic classification of the innate environment and aims the production of an example of cultivar classification for a sustainable use of genetic resources based on the respect of the vocationality principle. Material and Methods Molecular characterization: the genetic analysis was performed on a virus-free biotype of 'Gre- chetto rosso', a red grapevine variety listed in the Italian grapevine cultivar register, recently treated for clonal se- lection. Total DNA was extracted according to a modified DOYLE and DOYLE (1990) protocol. Varietal identity was es- tablished by analysing 14 microsatellite regions, including the nine recommended by the European project GENRES 081. PCR reactions and detection of amplified products were carried out according to MARTINEZ et al. (2006). A 'Sangiovese' clone corresponding to the accession charac- terized in BOWERS et al. (2000) was used as control. Cluster analysis (R package version 3.1.1) was performed among allele sizes of 'Grechetto rosso' and four 'Sangiovese' ac-