The story, in ten dates.

The Prosecco of these hills has more than two centuries of written names and a much older story. Ten dates to understand it: from the poet born in Valdobbiadene in the sixth century to the hills listed as World Heritage in 2019. No invented traditions: just what happened.

Valdobbiadene, explained · 5 November 2026 · 4 minutes

c. 530Venantius Fortunatus, poet and bishop, is born in Duplavilis, today’s Valdobbiadene. He’s the first famous name of these hills, and the vines of home return in his verses.
1772The name «Prosecco» tied to Conegliano appears for the first time in a journal, the Giornale d’Italia, by Francesco Maria Malvolti. Before, it was drunk, but not written.
1876Italy’s first School of Winemaking opens in Conegliano. From here come the technicians who will change the wine of the whole area.
1895Federico Martinotti devises the second fermentation in large sealed tanks, the autoclave. The Frenchman Eugène Charmat will perfect it a few years later: it’s the method Prosecco Superiore is still made with today.
1946In San Pietro di Barbozza the Confraternita di Valdobbiadene is founded, after the war, to stop the abandonment of the vineyards: practical help and technical advice to those who stayed on the hills.
1962Eleven producers found the Consorzio di Tutela, on 7 June. Today it brings together over two hundred companies.
1966The Strada del Prosecco is created, from Valdobbiadene to Conegliano: the first wine road in Italy.
1969On 2 April comes the DOC, Denominazione di Origine Controllata, for the Prosecco of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene and the Superiore di Cartizze.
2009On 1 August the hills become DOCG, the forty-fourth in Italy. In the same year the Prosecco DOC is born for the plain and the grape takes the name Glera: Prosecco stays the name of the wine.
2019On 7 July, in Baku, UNESCO inscribes «Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene» on the World Heritage List, unanimously: Italy’s 55th site.

And today.

In 2025 the DOCG sold about 98 million bottles, 8% more than the year before, and the hills welcomed about 570,000 visitors, more than double 2019. In 2026, in Colbertaldo, SERALBA was born: a brand, not a winery, to bring this wine to the people who don’t drink it yet. The story goes on from here.

The story of SERALBA

Three quick questions.

Where does the name Prosecco come from?

From the village of Prosecco, above Trieste, where the grape is thought to come from. The name travelled: today it means the wine and the area between the hills and the plain of Veneto and Friuli.

Has Prosecco always been sparkling?

No. For centuries it was a still or lightly sparkling wine, refermented in the bottle. The spumante as we know it arrives with the autoclave, after 1895.

What changes between the 1969 DOC and the 2009 DOCG?

The DOC recognises the area; the DOCG adds the guarantee: stricter checks, lower yields, the numbered State strip on every bottle.