Renato Ratti – The innovator of Barolo. Born in Villafalletto in 1934 into a family of doctors and veterinarians, Renato Ratti graduated from the School of Oenology and Viticulture of Alba. From 1955 to 1965 he worked for Cinzano in Brazil, contributing – with revolutionary techniques – to the birth of viticulture in the dry Sertão region. When he returned to Italy, he settled his winery right below the ancient Abbey of San Martino di Marcenasco, in La Morra, the heart of the Barolo production area. Here he started a pioneering project based on the concept of “cru” (which will lead to the creation of a famous map of the vineyards) and he perfected an innovating and inspiring technique to make wine from the Nebbiolo grapes. As president of the Barolo Consortium he participated in the drafting of the Docg regulations; as director of the Asti Consortium he was protagonist of the historical agreement between wine-growers and great sparkling wine makers. He was the first wine maker to hold conferences for the ICE (the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade); he wrote manuals about wine tasting; but, most of all, he created the “Ratti Wines of Alba Museum”, demonstrating that wine is, in the first place, a cultural factor. Struck by a sudden illness, Renato Ratti died in 1988, at the age of 54. Using undisclosed archival materials and oral evidence from people who met him, Renato Ratti. The innovator of Barolo reconstructs the extra-ordinary human and professional path of an authentic founding father, thanks to whom the italian wine stepped into future for good.