Wine-Growing Districts and Local Development, Territorial Governance and the role of Social Capital

The relationship between local development and viticulture, between organizational forms based on the presence of social capital (the wine-growing districts) and territorial governance, are the central topics on which this paper focuses. The wine sector is taken as a reference to offer some food for thought and some indications on the strategic objectives to be pursued so that the economic policy instruments to be adopted are oriented towards the creation of value in rural areas. This is an exclusively theoretical exercise that relies on the impressive literature built over the years around these important concepts, which today are considered fundamental for economic development and/or growth. To address this path of reflection, it is considered useful to draw attention to some fundamental concepts such as that of "Wine-Growing District" and "Social Capital" as determinants for the economic development of a territory. To stress on these topics allows us to identify some economic objectives to pursue and which mechanisms to encourage for the creation of an effective rural development policy for the wine sector.