Already briefly mentioned among the grapes of the territory of Fossano (Cuneo) by Count Nuvolone, who in 1787 wrote "it makes dry and good wine", the Avarengo in 1852 is considered by the Marquis Incisa a vine typical of the Pinerolo region (in Di Ricaldone, 1974).

A little earlier is the description (totally corrrespondent) of its synonyms Mostera (used in Canavese) and Riondasca (Biella), outlined by Domenico Milano (1839). While this writer correctly noted the identical correspondence between Mostera (locally Mustèr) and Riondasca (Riundasca) – names probably due to the high yield and to the round berrry – the discovery of the identity of these varieties of north-Piedmont with Avarengo Pinerolo (Schneider et al., 2006) and with the Avarena Saluzzese is rather recent.

During the Ampelographic Exposition held in Pinerolo just before the advent of phylloxera (Provana Collegno, 1881), various types of Avarengo were described  ("thin", "small", "medium", "large" and "ramabessa" because of the tendency of the shoots to develop forks), all attributable to the subject variety, while Avarenchetto (which has been recovered from the rare grape varieties of the area) was already reported as separate, and Avarengo white (probably due to a bud mutation of the grape color) which seems finally disappeared.

The brief description dell'Avarengo made on that occasion, which stresses the leaf "wrinkled" (today we would say strongly bullosa) with "minute teeth” strongly corresponds. More detailed descriptions are offered by Dalmasso et al. (1962) and Schneider et al. (2006).

The spread of Avarengo in the past was not limited to Pinerolo but to the entire foothills of the current provinces of Cuneo, Torino, Biella and Vercelli. However, nearly 1000 hectares that would be planted with Avarengo in 2010 (Anderson and Aryal, 2013) seem an overestimate.

Some decades ago, the grapes of Avarengo were still largely used for table consumption. In the past, a varietal wine was produced, which had a certain reputation. Today the few Avarengo grapes produced are constituents of local Pinerolese wines in very modest proportions indeed.