Vermentino is a semi-aromatic white grape variety, also known as Pigato in Liguria and Favorita in Piedmont and Corsica. Its origins are not clear: for some it comes from the north-east of Spain in Aragon but the variety does not seem to be cultivated anymore in what should be its native land; for others always in Spain it was known as Listan d'Andalusia. Second still others would be native of Portugal (where it is known by the name of "codega") or the island of Madeira, given the numerous affinities (richness of color and extract ) with the local Malvasia. From the Iberian peninsula it would have spread first in France - Grosse Clarette, Malvois d'Espagne, Piccabon, Languedoc-Roussillon - then in Liguria and in the Apuan Alps area (Gallesio found it up in Versilia). In those areas it took the name of Malvasia Grossa, Carbesso or Corbesso or Carbess (the pigato is considered by some as a variety of Vermentino), Pizzamosca, and Vemettino, the latter name with which it arrived in Corsica and then, in the second half of the 'Nineteenth century, in Gallura (Sardinia) where it acquired the name Vermentino and, to a lesser extent, also in some areas of Tuscany.
