FIVI is once again under female leadership. The successor to Lorenzo Cesconi, who chose not to seek re-election, is Rita Babini, a Romagna vigneron who has been appointed president of the Italian Federation of Independent Winegrowers. Over the past two terms, Babini—who runs her Ancarani winery in Oriolo dei Fichi (Faenza) alongside her husband—served as the association’s national secretary. Before Cesconi, who has stepped aside to focus on his family and business, the federation was led by Matilde Poggi.
The legal recognition of the vigneron
This will be a mandate with ambitious objectives. Among them, as Babini herself explains, is securing legal recognition for the role of the vigneron. In Italy, FIVI wrote in 2023, there is no legal definition of the term "Vigneron," which means "it can be used in a wide variety of contexts, often arbitrarily." Other key objectives include ensuring representation within the protection consortia, as well as simplifying and unifying regulatory inspections for wine businesses. "In addition to these national objectives," says the newly appointed president, "there are sometimes even greater challenges at the European level, in which we are already involved today and which will continue to grow in the coming years. We want to be able to make a dignified living from our work and ensure that our profession still exists in the future."
The Council
With seven outgoing councillors re-elected and eight new councillors beginning their first term, FIVI continues to be an association "capable of striking the right balance between renewal and continuity." For the 2025–28 term, over 800 vignerons from across Italy cast their votes to elect the following members to the council: Rita Babini (Romagna), Clementina Balter (Trentino), Ludovico Maria Botti (Lazio), Fabio de Beaumont (Campania), Camillo Favaro (Piedmont), Francesco Mazzone (Puglia), Pietro Monti (Piedmont), Ninive Pavese (Aosta Valley), Désirée Pascon Bellese (Veneto), Andrea Pieropan (Veneto), Stefano Pizzamiglio (Emilia Romagna), Carmela Pupillo (Sicily), Valeria Radici (Lombardy), Alessandro Starrabba (Marche), and Stefan Vaja (South Tyrol).
The collective participation at Vinitaly has been confirmed, along with two key events: Il Sabato del Vignaiolo (on 10 May, across various regions) and Il Mercato dei Vini FIVI (from 15 to 17 November at BolognaFiere).
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