The name comes from its most suited production area, the municipality of Viadana in the province of Mantua, although in Lombardy this variety is known as Grappello Ruperti, named after the ampelographer who studied it and selected it as one of the best species of the province of Mantua. From a historical point of view, the origin of this grape, as for the Lambrusco from Emilia, has to be found in wild vines (Labrusca Vitis) that grew in abundance in the forests of the Apennines and that gave a wine mentioned even by Pliny the Elder and Virgil in their works. This grape has a remarkable vigor, it prefers moist and deep soils and a good exposure to the sun. It has a late maturation and has a great resistance to various diseases of the vine (the reason why, probably, managed to survive the extermination of the second half of the nineteenth century).
