Alcamo Becomes a European Laboratory for Sustainable Viticulture: Three Days of International Training with the STIV Project

For three days, Alcamo became a meeting point for wine territories, professional expertise and European communities. From 26 to 28 May 2026, the Cittadella dei Giovani hosted the International Training in Sicily of the STIV project, an Erasmus+ initiative designed to support the wine sector in moving towards a more sustainable, digital and inclusive transition.

The training was organised by the Fondazione Comunitaria di Agrigento e Trapani, which brought 24 participants from France, Italy, Spain and Serbia to the Trapani area. This international group gathered around a shared challenge: to imagine new skills for a viticulture sector capable of addressing climate change, technological innovation and economic transformation while maintaining a strong connection with local communities.

The training course was led by Dr Antonio La Fata, an oenologist with international experience in the wine sector, from vineyard management to winemaking processes. His professional background, developed in Italy and abroad and focused on technological innovation applied to viticulture, made it possible to connect the project’s themes with concrete situations: everyday work in vineyards, technical choices in the cellar, environmental sustainability, product quality and the increasingly important role of digital tools.

“This training was a living laboratory, not just a sequence of lessons,” said Antonio La Fata. “We worked on complex topics starting from the reality of vineyards, wineries and the people who keep the sector alive every day. Sustainable transition cannot be imposed from above: it must grow from the ability of territories to recognise their own resources, innovate without losing their identity and cooperate beyond national borders.”

The first day, Tuesday 26 May, opened at the Cittadella dei Giovani with the welcome and registration of participants. After the initial greetings, the programme began with the module dedicated to social transition in viticulture, led by Dr Giuditta Raccuglia, oenologist, technical director of CVA Canicattì and member of the National Association Le Donne del Vino. Her contribution brought to the centre of the discussion not only the technical and social challenges of the sector, but also the issue of women’s presence in a field historically dominated by men. Through the story of her own professional experience and the work of the association Le Donne del Vino, Raccuglia offered participants a concrete testimony on the value of representation, networking and the recognition of women’s skills within the wine supply chain. Her contribution made clear that the transition of the sector is not only environmental or digital, but also cultural: it concerns the way wine communities are able to include talents, generations and different professional paths, building fairer, more participatory supply chains capable of generating shared responsibility.

The morning continued with the module on digital transition in viticulture. This is a crucial topic for a sector that remains deeply connected to the land, while increasingly engaging with data, platforms, monitoring systems and artificial intelligence. The session concluded with the presentation and demonstration of the STIV platform by Cropt, the Serbian partner of the project, which showed how digital technologies can support more informed decision-making in vineyard management.

In the afternoon, the training moved from the classroom to the territory, with a visit, lunch and wine tasting at Alessandro di Camporeale Winery. This stop allowed participants to observe a Sicilian production reality up close and to connect the morning’s contents with the concrete practices of the sector. The day ended with a convivial dinner in Alcamo, an informal but important opportunity to strengthen relationships, exchanges and cooperation among the partners.

On Wednesday 27 May, the second day broadened the focus to environmental and energy sustainability. The “Green & Energy Transition in Viticulture” module guided participants through a reflection on possible strategies to reduce the environmental impact of wine production, improve energy efficiency and respond to the consequences of climate change. This discussion is closely connected to agricultural communities, which are increasingly exposed to extreme weather events, rising costs, market transformations and the need for adaptation.

The fourth module, dedicated to new products and business models, opened a discussion on how wine companies can diversify, innovate and build value starting from local identities. Not only wine production, therefore, but also wine tourism, storytelling around landscapes, cooperation among producers, lifelong learning and new professional skills. After the Q&A session and lunch at Bar 900, the programme continued with a tour and tasting of local wines at the Enoteca Regionale Sicilia Occidentale. There, participants were also welcomed by Mario Viviano, Councillor of the Municipality of Alcamo, who brought the greetings of the municipal administration and spoke about the wine tradition of the Alcamo area, highlighting the deep link between wine, landscape, local identity and community development. The visit was one of the most meaningful moments of the training, as it allowed the international group to understand sustainable transition not as an abstract concept, but through the history, products and expertise of a territory that recognises wine as an important part of its culture.

For Alessia Gambino, FCAT project manager and coordinator of the training organisation, the experience confirmed the value of networking and the community-based dimension of the project. “We wanted Alcamo to be not only the venue of the training, but a hosting community,” she said. “The STIV project is about transition, but also about trust: trust among European organisations, between the world of training and businesses, between innovation and local knowledge. Welcoming participants from four countries means recognising that Sicily can be a European learning space, able to share challenges and build solutions.”

The third and final day, Thursday 28 May, was dedicated to the final evaluation and closing of the training. At the Cittadella dei Giovani, participants shared reflections, learning outcomes and future perspectives before the final visit and wine tasting at Tonnino Winery. This moment symbolically closed the circle of the training: from theoretical learning to practice, from international exchange to direct contact with local production realities.

The value of the International Training in Sicily emerged precisely from its ability to bring together different dimensions: European research and the everyday life of wineries, vocational training and the needs of producers, technology and local culture. Over three days, Alcamo became a community laboratory, where people from different countries shared the same question: how can viticulture become more sustainable, competitive and fair, without leaving behind those who work the land?

The STIV project was created to strengthen green and digital skills in the wine sector and to support vocational education and training as a driver of change. In this perspective, the training organised by the Fondazione Comunitaria di Agrigento e Trapani represented a concrete step: not an isolated event, but an experience designed to generate impact in the participants’ territories of origin and within the educational, productive and community networks involved.

In Alcamo, among classrooms, wineries, tastings and informal conversations, sustainable transition took on the faces of people: trainers, project managers, technicians, operators and wine professionals who chose to listen to one another. It is from this exchange among communities that innovation can become truly accessible, shared and rooted in territories.

The project (2024-1-FR01-KA220-VET-000245913) was selected and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and the Agence Erasmus+ France / Education et Formation, under Key Action 2 – Partnerships for Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training.