September 17, 2012

A Forward-Thinking Province Creates a Research Stronghold in Italy

A Forward-Thinking Province Creates a Research Stronghold in Italy 2

Chris Warde-Jones for The Chronicle

Roberto Viola directs the Research and Innovation Center at the Edmund Mach Foundation. Recent work there has included sequencing the genome of the pinot-noir grape.

By Megan Williams

Trento, Italy

Standing in the sunshine by a towering 12th-century converted stone castle, Roberto Viola gestures to a valley of vineyards and the rounded, majestic mountains that spread out in the distance.

"This is our living lab, a work in progress," says Mr. Viola, the energetic director of the Research and Innovation Center of the Edmund Mach Foundation, a public research institution that conducts cutting-edge agricultural, nutritional, and environmental studies. Its most recent accomplishments