Italy sharply raises wine and agriculture funding to €16.8 billion

Italy is sharply increasing public investment in wine and agriculture, with funding for the sector rising 46% to €16.8 billion over 2023 through 2025, according to a new report presented at the Forum Food & Beverage in Bormio, in the Valtellina area of Lombardy.

The findings, released by The European House-Ambrosetti and Teha Group in what they described as their first observatory on agrifood policy, point to wine as one of the country’s most strategic industries within the broader food system. The report says Italian wine exports are expected to reach €7.8 billion in 2025, equal to 11% of national agrifood exports, while Italy remains the world’s second-largest wine exporter by market share.

The increase in public spending marks a break from more than a decade of relative stability, the report said. It comes on top of a structural base of €38.5 billion in support for the sector and reflects a broader effort by Rome to strengthen industrial capacity, technology, energy autonomy and export competitiveness across food and farming.

Wine is also among the main beneficiaries of supply-chain contracts financed through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan and managed by the Agriculture Ministry. Those contracts have mobilized €7.8 billion in public and private resources overall, with €1.4 billion directed to wine, behind livestock at €2.7 billion and fruit and vegetables at €2.1 billion.

The report frames wine not only as an export engine but also as part of Italy’s cultural identity. It points to UNESCO recognition for the traditional vine-growing practice of Pantelleria and for the Mediterranean diet as examples of how food and wine are tied to the country’s international image. According to the study, Italy is the only country with six UNESCO recognitions in the agrifood field.

Researchers identified seven main policy directions behind current spending. They include €6.1 billion to support production chains and strengthen industrial capacity, €5.6 billion for technological innovation and energy independence, €3.6 billion aimed at protecting consumers’ purchasing power, and €1.1 billion for food safety and phytosanitary risks. Another €0.4 billion is earmarked for younger entrepreneurs as policymakers try to address generational turnover in farming and food businesses.

Using its own methodology, the observatory estimated that these measures could generate about €87 billion in direct added value for the sector and a broader benefit of €246 billion for the Italian economy over the medium to long term. Of that total, €67.8 billion would be visible within the next three years, while €178 billion would come from longer-term effects on skilled employment, income, consumption and international competitiveness.

The report places those projections within a food chain that employed 3.4 million workers in 2024, including 485,000 in food and beverage manufacturing and about 2.9 million in primary agriculture. Employment across the sector rose 5.9% from 2015 to 2024. In agriculture alone, Italy led Europe in non-family employment with about 948,000 workers, or 12.8% of the European Union total, up 2.9% from 2015.

At the same time, the number of businesses fell to about 1.1 million, down 12.9% from 2015. The report interprets that decline as a sign of consolidation and productivity gains rather than contraction, since turnover and added value both increased over the same period.

Including distribution, intermediation and restaurants, Italy’s extended agrifood chain generated €736.3 billion in revenue in 2024, up 39.1% from 2015, according to the study. Together with upstream and downstream activities, it produced €400.4 billion in added value, equal to 20.4% of national gross domestic product.

The core agrifood chain alone posted €269.9 billion in revenue in 2024, including €193.3 billion from food and beverage manufacturing and €76.6 billion from agriculture. That was up 42% from 2015. Direct added value reached €81.6 billion, up 42.4%, making food and beverage Italy’s largest manufacturing sector by value, ahead of metallurgy and far above fashion and chemicals, the report said.

Trade remains central to that growth story. Agrifood exports are projected at between €70.9 billion and €72.5 billion in 2025, nearly double their 2015 level with growth of 96.4%, and up 5% from 2024 despite trade pressures abroad. Food and beverage exports alone, including tobacco, are expected to reach €62.5 billion.

Italy also ranked first among European competitors by average agrifood export value at €260.9 per 100 kilograms exported, a measure often used to show stronger positioning in higher-value products.

That momentum has not insulated exporters from tariffs in the United States. The report said U.S. duties set at 15% led to a 4.5% drop in Italian agrifood exports to that market in 2025. Even so, Italy maintained its lead in Europe for agricultural added value at €44.2 billion, up 11% from 2023.

Certified origin products remain another pillar of Italy’s strategy abroad. The country has 897 protected designation of origin and protected geographical indication products, more than any other E.U. member state, generating €20.7 billion in revenue. Wine accounts for 63% of those denominations with 566 certifications and production worth €11 billion in 2024, slightly up by 0.1% from 2023. That exceeds certified cheese at €5.9 billion and meat products at €2.2 billion.

Globally, Italy held a 20.7% share of world wine trade in 2024, confirming its position as the second-largest exporter by market share.

The report also highlighted Lombardy and Valtellina as examples of how agriculture, wine and tourism can reinforce one another at the regional level. Lombardy was identified as Italy’s leading region for agrifood revenue at €50 billion in 2024, up 40.4% from 2015, and for added value at €11.2 billion, up 31.6%. It was also the country’s top agrifood exporting region with exports doubling over a decade to €11.7 billion.

Within Lombardy, Sondrio province was presented as a case study linking mountain viticulture with tourism appeal. It ranks fifth in Lombardy for wine production with about 3.1 million bottles a year. The Valtellina area contains what the report described as Italy’s largest terraced vineyard landscape, with about 850 hectares under vine and roughly 2,500 kilometers of dry-stone walls.

Valerio De Molli, managing partner and chief executive of The European House-Ambrosetti and Teha Group, said Lombardy and Valtellina show how certified quality, local identity and access to international markets can strengthen both regional competitiveness and Italy’s broader agrifood brand.

The study also pointed to structural weaknesses that could limit future gains if left unresolved. One is dependence on crop protection chemicals and fertilizers. In a scenario where their use stopped completely, wine grapes would be among the most vulnerable crops, with production losses estimated at 81%, alongside processing tomatoes and behind corn at 87% and rice at 84%.

Even with those risks, agrifood’s direct share of Italian GDP reached a 20-year high of 4.2%, according to the report. Analysts linked that performance to Italy’s global standing in products such as pasta, wine and tomato derivatives as well as to stronger international visibility around major events.

The study said the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics acted as a reputational amplifier for Italian food products during the weeks of competition this year. Digital reach tied to associations between Italy and food rose by a factor of 1.8 compared with 2025 levels, it said.

An analysis of global social media conversations found that alongside pizza and pasta, Italian wine was one of the dominant keywords associated with the country across red, white and premium categories. The sentiment attached to those mentions was positive or neutral in 87% of cases.

Taken together, the figures show why policymakers and industry groups are treating wine not simply as an agricultural product but as part of a wider economic system that links farming, manufacturing, exports, tourism and national image at a time when Italy is trying to turn higher public spending into lasting competitive advantage.