Campus Grapes is the world’s first high-tech urban vineyard, developed by the Politecnico di Torino and Citiculture, a green-tech start-up that transforms urban spaces into hubs of social and environmental innovation through vine cultivation.
The project, carried out in collaboration with the University of Turin, is unique in its kind. It covers an area of 1,000 square metres and is home to around 700 potted grapevines. Planting began in May 2025 with the first vine shoot and was completed in June with the planting of the vines.
The vineyard’s technological features include the use of sensors placed on the plants to monitor their health and automatically manage irrigation, the use of biochar-based compounds to promote vine growth, and an environmental monitoring system to assess air quality, with particular attention to CO₂ levels.
Campus Grapes is closely linked to the University’s teaching and research activities: students at the Politecnico di Torino are experimenting with climate-smart agriculture practices to test innovative solutions for adapting to climate change.
The vineyard serves as a case study and laboratory for thesis projects and calls for projects for scientific purposes, open to the entire academic community. The Scientific Committee, chaired by the Politecnico di Torino and comprising: Patrizia Lombardi (Chair of the Scientific Committee, PoliTO), Danilo Demarchi (PoliTO), Marco Piras (PoliTO), Luca Balbiano (CitiCulture), Andrea Schubert (UniTo), Paolo Sabbatini (UniTo), Bianca Serito (Lavazza S.p.A.).
The project forms part of the University’s Nature-Based Solutions initiatives and its Decarbonisation and Resilience programmes, with the aim of transforming the campus into a genuine laboratory of sustainability and social innovation, where theory and practice are integrated into a living ecosystem.
Not solely dedicated to research purposes, the vineyard is open to the city and local businesses as a social hub for events and gatherings of various kinds. The launch of a Call for Events will enable the selection of initiatives that meet the requirements of a unique and special venue such as Campus Grapes.
The opening ceremony on 17 September was attended by Luca Balbiano, CEO and founder of the start-up Citiculture; Alberto Cirio, President of the Piedmont Region; Paolo Chiavarino, Councillor for Commerce for the City of Turin; and Marco Gay, President of the Industrialists’ Union.
Stefano Corgnati, Rector of the Politecnico di Torino, said:
“This urban vineyard project is a clear example of how, today, engineering expertise can be applied across a wide range of sectors, demonstrating that we are living in an era of technological innovation in which interdisciplinarity and the integration of different fields of knowledge are key. With the creation of this urban vineyard, we have also given concrete form to our university project, which begins with fostering new opportunities for innovation for our students, applying them to fields that characterise our region. Our Campus is a true living lab that develops through new technological perspectives, ranging from the rational use of water to new sensor technology, within a Politecnico di Torino increasingly focused on learning by doing, where a solid foundation of expertise is combined with practical skills, so that knowledge manifests itself in new products and services for society.”
During the opening ceremony, the project’s agronomic innovations were also presented, including the use of potted vines to optimise growing conditions, clonal and varietal diversification to enhance resilience, and the use of experimental training systems to assess their suitability for an urban environment.
