Tune in for a gripping exposé as investigative journalist and academic Ottavia Spaggiari reveals the disturbing underbelly of Tuscany's wine industry. In conversation with Rabia Mehmood, Spaggiari pulls back the curtain on the exploitation plaguing migrant workers in Italy's vineyards.
From the wine country in Langhe to other prestigious wine growing regions of Italy, she uncovers a troubling reality: migrant laborers, predominantly from Sub-Saharan Africa and also Pakistan, are trapped in a cycle of exploitation put in place by intermediary firms and individual contractors. Despite Italy's supposed anti-exploitation laws, called the “Caporalato” the industry thrives on the backs of undocumented workers, while big businesses turn a blind eye to the human cost. In most cases, the intermediaries are men from South Asia, who have the legal documents to work, and use the irregular status of migrants from fellow countries against them.
Spaggiari exposes the truth behind Italy's prized wines, revealing a disturbing nexus between profit and human suffering, where exploitation stains the soil beneath every vine.