The Italian wine supply chain has performed well in recent decades both in terms of profitability and success on the domestic and international markets. This is despite the fact that it is fragmented in terms of products, prices and consumption context, and, in particular, despite the fact that it is characterised by an organisation that hinders the full exploitation of economies of scale. This paradox has not been investigated in literature. We propose several elements in support of the hypothesis that the Italian wine sector’s success is linked to favourable elements of the Porter Diamond Model (5 out of 6) but also to the “district” nature of a large part of the sector. The presence of numerous networks, some of which are formal and others informal, gives most Italian local production systems specialising in grapes and wine the characteristics of industrial districts, due to the local social capital that is stratified there. These networks include operators such as Cooperatives and Consorzi di Tutela, upstream and downstream industries and services, tourism, research and educational bodies. Such networks can overcome the weakness represented by the low concentration and small average size of the operators. To support this hypothesis, we analyse the historical evolution of the sector and its drivers, the structural features of the different phases of the wine chain (grape growing, winemaking, bottling and distribution), the market relationships within the chain and the national and European policies favouring the sector. This analysis also underlines the differences between the Italian sector and its competitors from the Old and New World.

在近几十年来，意大利葡萄酒供应链在国内和国际市场上的盈利能力和成功方面均表现良好。尽管事实上它在产品，价格和消费方面是分散的，尤其是尽管它的特征是阻碍全面利用规模经济的组织。这种悖论尚未在文献中进行研究。我们提出了几个要素来支持这一假说，即意大利葡萄酒业的成功与波特钻石模型的有利因素（6分之5）有关，但也与该部门很大一部分的“地区”性质有关。存在众多的网络，其中一些是正式的，而另一些则是非正式的，由于本地社会资本的分层，使大多数意大利的葡萄和葡萄酒生产系统具有了工业区的特色。这些网络包括合作社和Consorzi di Tutela等运营商，上下游产业和服务，旅游业，研究和教育机构。这样的网络可以克服运营商集中度低和平均规模小所代表的弱点。为了支持这一假设，我们分析了该行业及其驱动因素的历史演变，葡萄酒链不同阶段（葡萄种植，葡萄酒酿造，装瓶和分销）的结构特征，链内的市场关系以及国家和欧洲市场有利于该部门的政策。