The first edition of our Guide 'Vini d'Italia' was christened in Florence. It was the autumn of 1987, the 1988 edition, the one with the bottle-green cover, the strange oversized format and the graphics that were revolutionary for the time. Looking at it again, one theme stands out: most of the wineries that make the national scene so vital today were not there.

They simply had not been founded yet. Date in hand, the world of Italian wine is anything but an Old World, much to the chagrin of the narratives that skilfully mix vines of Greek origin with Roman customs. This portentous growth has been going on for the last 30 years and we have been delighted to have it recounted at close quarters at the rate of our Tre Bicchieri, in Italy and with equal intensity around the world.