In early 1800 Giorgio Gallesio (1839) described the "Uva Albarola or Bianchetta del Genovesato” accompanying his text with an amazing picture from Daniele Del Re, that beautifully depicts the true characters of this varieties. Gallesio was well informed about the synonymy of the Albarola from the Cinque Terre (in the eastern Liguria) and the Bianchetta from Genoa area. This true synonymy has been later refused by Dell’Olio and Macaluso (1965), who claimed the two varieties were different. As a consequence of this study the two grapes were separately registered in the Italian Catalogue, but later evidences brought them back to the same variety (Schneider et al., 1993). As to other ancient quotations, the ”Albarola trebbiana” is mentioned by Acerbi’s correspondent G. Guidoni (1825) among the grapes from Cinque Terre (La Spezia province of Liguria region).

Today Albarola is one of the major wine grapes of Liguria, mainly grown in the East part of the region. It is not present significantly elsewhere. A recent selection, the clone Albarola CVT Kihlgren, show an interesting looser grape, less prone to grey rot and mould, one of the disease that most affects Albarola.

Wines from Albarola grapes are rich in alcohol, but with less acidity. They are usually blend with Vermentino and/or Bosco into many white DOP wines from Liguria (among which Cinque Terre and Colli di Luni are the most well known). Albarola grapes could meet (at a maximum of 40%) the variety Bosco for the production of Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà, a special, typical straw wine.