Prosecco Hills

The Prosecco Hills are a cultivated upland landscape between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene in the Treviso province, where steep vineyard slopes, stone-walled terraces and small historic villages compose a working wine country recognised by UNESCO. Beyond the celebrated vineyards, the area preserves abbeys, hilltop oratories, medieval towers and old watermills that anchor the wine story in a much longer history.

Why visit

This is one of the few places in the world where a wine landscape is itself the monument. Since 2019 the hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene have formed a UNESCO World Heritage property, inscribed for a centuries-long dialogue between people and a difficult terrain: growers tamed slopes so steep that every terrace had to be shaped and held by hand. Visitors come for the wines, but the reward is wider — panorama roads ridged with vines, Romanesque chapels on isolated hills, a Cistercian abbey wrapped around a serene cloister, and villages where the day still begins in the vineyard.

Character and history

The landscape’s character is the product of tenacious agriculture. Viticulture here is documented for centuries, and the area claims Italy’s oldest wine road, linking the hill towns from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene. The UNESCO citation rests on this living tradition: the “hogback” hill formations of the central zone, the terracing, and a mosaic of smallholdings that has resisted industrial-scale consolidation.

The hills also carry an older, strategic history. Farra di Soligo belonged in the Middle Ages to the powerful Da Camino lords of the Marca Trevigiana and later to the Counts of Collalto, before the Republic of Venice absorbed the territory. On the Col di San Gallo a medieval castle gave way to a hermitage; the fortified towers at Credazzo watched over the valley, and are documented from the thirteenth century. Religious foundations left the deepest imprint: at Follina, Cistercian monks settled in the twelfth century, draining and cultivating the land, and their abbey church — with the great cloister of 1268 beside it — remains a minor basilica and the spiritual heart of the area.

What to see

Start with the Abbey of Santa Maria di Follina, whose church and thirteenth-century cloister offer the quietest architecture in the hills; on its slopes below Monte Grappa, the Astego Vegetation Garden introduces the native flora of the Veneto regional agriculture body. In the commune of Farra di Soligo the landscape itself is the monument: the evocative Credazzo Towers, the medieval Oratory of San Vigilio with fifteenth-century frescoes, the castle chapel of San Lorenzo, the Hermitage of the Colle di San Gallo on its castle site, the former church of Santo Stefano, now a concert auditorium, and the parish church of Santi Pietro e Paolo at Soligo, holding paintings attributed to Luca Giordano. In neighbouring Refrontolo, the seventeenth-century Molinetto della Croda watermill turns again in the gorge of the Lierza stream, and at San Pietro di Feletto the ancient Pieve of San Pietro Apostolo keeps medieval frescoes within walls that stand on Lombard-era foundations. Above Miane, the hillside Sanctuary of the Madonna del Carmine closes a panoramic circuit of faith and landscape.

How to experience

Drive or cycle the slow roads rather than racing the main axis: the strade del prosecco are at their best early in the morning, when mist lifts off the vine rows. Book tastings at wineries in advance and pace yourself — many visitors combine a cellar visit with a walk on waymarked itineraries published by the UNESCO site authority. The watermill valley invites a short, family-friendly stop, and the abbey at Follina deserves time in the cloister rather than a glance. In late summer the grape harvest transforms the hills into a scene of labour and festivity, though roads narrow and accommodation fills quickly.

Practical planning

The area is best reached by car from Venice or Treviso, with Valdobbiadene and Conegliano as the main bases; Conegliano has a railway station. Opening hours of churches and the abbey vary with the liturgical calendar and season, so verify locally. Comfortable shoes matter more than formal wear — paths run across grass, gravel and steep vineyard terraces. Designated drivers or organised tours are essential for wine tasting days.

Nearby places

Conegliano and Valdobbiadene mark the ends of the UNESCO corridor, Asolo adds a Renaissance hill town to the west, and Vittorio Veneto brings museums and mountain gates to the north.