The Mountain University works to preserve and promote the Alps and Apennines biodiversity.
Researches such as the one on the species Zea mays called “spiny black corn of Valle Camonica” allow us to map unique products and with them identity, history and traditions of a place.
This research led to the discovery that the “black corn” was traditionally grown in the municipalities of Esine, Piancogno and neighboring (Valcamonica, BS) and brought out direct testimony from some farmers, allowing us to date the cultivation of this corn in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, in the locality called Annunciata.
This species – that is well suited to cultivation in the mountain environment, even at altitudes above 1,000 meters, due to its hardiness and the average length of the growing season – can be considered a local variety as indicated by the national guidelines for the conservation of plant biodiversity (Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry of 6 July 2012).
In April 2015, the Mountain University, in conjunction with the municipalities of Esine and Piancogno, has started the paperwork for its inclusion in the “conservation variety” in the National Register of Agricultural and Horticultural Species (DM 17 December 2010), the most important instrument for the national agro-protection. The registration procedure was completed successfully in January 2016 with the publication of the Ministerial Decree 14/12/2015: the spiny black corn has characteristics that make it unique in its kind, thus worthy of protection.
Following the recent chemical bromatological and genetic studies conducted by the Mountain University’s researchers, the cultivation of spiny black corn has found new impetus, arousing the interest of various local farmers who have decided to cultivate it.