Understanding the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

April 18, 2022

The Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture was classified as World Heritage by UNESCO in 2004, based on these criteria, adopted in the Report "Decisions and Summary Record" WHC-04/28.COM/26, p. 228 (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage – World Heritage Committee):

 

“Suzhou, China

28 June – 7 July 2004

Criteria iii

– The vinicultural landscape of the Pico island “bears a unique or at the least, an exceptional testimony to its cultural tradition.” In effect, existing diverse manifestations of socio-cultural characteristics specifically associated to the harvest, it is reflected in the gastronomy, in its music and folkloric dances. A few of these typical dances mirror the practices observed during the harvest. It also originated a socio-familiar interchange between each island that changed profoundly the characteristic isolation of the Azores.

 

Criteria iv

– The Vinicultural Landscape in the Island of Pico is “a notorious example of a landscape that resembles a significant period in human history”. It is a landscape built upon the arrival of the very first settlers after the discovery of the Archipelago of Azores by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. The first documented references to its existence date back to the seventeenth century, already referring to the viniculture as a significant activity in the island. Its implementation began near the costal area where a greater concentration of lava could be registered and then it was extended up the mountain into the interior of the island, intensifying its implementation as competition from other institutions, i.e. religious orders, arose. The Vinicultural Landscape of the Island of Pico is deeply associated to the Portuguese discoveries and to a kind of settlement theory typical of this stage of human history. It is the consequence of Portuguese settlement in untouched land, transforming it into a live and productive landscape up until our days. Its structures are not archeological; they are transformed, substituted, replaced and altered throughout the centuries conforming to the original model of environment adaptation, conceived and put into practice by the first communities that settled there.

 

In Landscape of the Pico island Vineyard Culture – Candidature to World Heritage, 2004, AAVV, p. 30 and 31.

 

Since 2005, it has had specific management by the Pico Island Vineyard Technical Lab, dependent on the member of the Government with competence in environmental matters, currently constituted by the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change.

The classified landscape and its protection area are partially inserted in the Cultura da Vinha Protected Landscape Area, which also includes Ponta do Mistério da Prainha and Ponta da Ilha.

However, the classification of this area as a Protected Landscape of Regional Interest dates back to 1996, and the use and transformation of its soil have been regulated since 2002. Later, in 2006, came into force the Landscaping Zoning Plan for Pico’s Vineyard Culture Protected Landscape (POPPCVIP), approved by the Regional Regulative Decree no. 24/2006/A, of July 13, constituting the first, and only to date, territorial management instrument of this nature to be approved in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, having been revised in 2014.

The POPPCVIP was developed to safeguard environmental, landscape, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of the island of Pico values. Its strategic objectives are to recover, rehabilitate and conserve the landscape of the traditional culture of Pico vineyards in plots, to promote the growth of the winegrowing activity, to encourage complementarity with tourism and other economic activities, and to promote the integrated management of the Protected Landscape Area.

The Pico Island Vine Culture Landscape was awarded the National Landscape Award in 2018 and first prize in the 'Best Development of a Cultural Landscape of European Relevance' category of the European Garden Awards in 2019.

The following elements resulting from human intervention are an integral part of the cultural landscape: the vast range of panoramic views of the landscape of traditional vineyards in production interspersed with abandoned vineyards constituted by basalt stone walls; coastal agglomerates, consisting of groups of buildings concentrated near strategic areas of the coast – manorial houses or manors, chapels, and buildings supporting production, such as wineries, warehouses and distilleries; tidal wells; rola-pipas; rilheiras or regueiras; ports, harbours and piers; shelter houses; and descansadouros.

Are also included natural elements such as lava fields and volcanic caves, which are the geomorphological basis of this entire landscape, natural habitat that integrate specific fauna and flora, and the climate.

In addition to the physical elements (natural elements and human intervention in the landscape), historical and cultural heritage is also associated: the production of a historic wine, which was the reason for the creation of this vinicultural landscape; and the culture of the local population, which includes Christian religious cults and popular traditions.

This landscape is also yours and, as it has been recognised worldwide by UNESCO, it also belongs to Humanity and generations to come. It is on the list of assets classified as World Heritage, like the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum and the Historic Centre of Rome, the Alto Douro Wine Region, the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis of Athens in Greece, the Inca city of Machu Pichu in the Andes Mountains, the Maya Pyramids in Central America, the giant Moais on Easter Island, the great Djenné Mosque in Mali, among many other sites recognised for their universal outstanding value.

There is no other landscape like this anywhere else on our planet: with all its history, all its details, all its shapes, colours, its rocks, sea breeze, flora and fauna, all its feelings, senses and memories. It is our soil, our identity, our home.

This asset is a legacy of our ancestors, who, over six centuries, knew how to use this territory for their benefit and survival but did not destroy or disfigure it. Their intervention in the natural environment gave rise to a sublime and ingenious compromise between Man, the natural environment, climate and the beauty of a work of art, which in this case is giant and covers more than 7% of the surface of our island. And, on the horizon as a backdrop, the imposing presence of our Pico Mountain.

Living and managing all this implies strategy and balance according to the dynamics and the passing of time so that its values and attributes are not lost.

Management processes tend to improve with practice, with the dynamics of the times, with policies and with the participation of all of us.

May we never be assaulted by the feeling of loss, which we only realise when, ultimately, we lose what we had that was good and beautiful and did not know or did not realise.