San Michele all’Adige, Istituto Agrario di, or, strictly, since being renamed in 2008, the Edmund Mach Foundation, one of Italy’s best-known viti-agricultural schools and centres of academe. It was founded in 1874 in what was then the Austrian South Tyrol and is now the province of Trento in the far north of the country. Its aim is to promote cultural and socioeconomic growth in the agricultural sector and to develop sustainable forestry and agriculture. Its first director Edmund Mach set up the institute to include an experimental station and a farm alongside the school. Today a wide range of agricultural and viticultural training and research is undertaken, including the genomics of indigenous varieties in collaboration with international research institutes, and oenological concerns include the analysis of flavour and phenolics, microbiology, and sensory analysis (see tasting). The institute hosts the most important ampelographic collection in Italy, with varieties from Italy and all over the world, as well as producing a range of wines under the San Michele all’Adige label.
