Giacomo Oddero was a character of brilliant insights, a man who gave so much to his land, the Langhe. He passed away on Monday the 21st at the age of 98.
“A visionary who was able to build the foundations of wine and food tourism, consolidating the close link between wine and territory. – This is how Piedmont Region President Alberto Cirio remembers Giacomo Oddero – In his professional and administrative experience he always knew how to seek and find a balance between people and between territories. This land remembers him for his precious legacy and for that intuition that led him to the foundation of the Langhe aqueduct, which was the basis of the growth and development of this territory.”
Born Sept. 16, 1926, in the hamlet of Santa Maria di La Morra, Oddero graduated from the classical high school in Alba in 1946. In 1950 he graduated in Pharmacy in Turin, from there on he would be “the pharmacist of Via Maestra” for everyone. He entered politics around the 1960s, becoming mayor of La Morra from 1965 to 1970. From 1970 to 1987 he was councilor and provincial councilor for agriculture. From 1976 to 1992 he served as president of the Cuneo Chamber of Commerce and from 1992 to 2006 as president of the Crc Foundation. At the same time, from 1990 to 1995, he was president of the Tourist Board and president of the Langhe Aqueduct from 1971 to 199; he was also president of Onaf, national Onav councilor, and honorary sommelier.
Commitment to the family business and the local area
The contemporary history of the Oddero winery is inextricably linked to his figure. An eclectic figure with wide-ranging cultural interests, starting in the 1950s Giacomo renovated the old farm and began a long battle to elevate the quality and prestige of the wines. Not only those he produced, but of the entire Province of Cuneo.
“I was born in 1926, my first harvest was when I was 15 years old; so, you could say I harvested more than 80 times. I remember the first one: there was still the ox that brought home the chariots full of wine, the crushing was done in big vats with feet. We would press by hand and especially the last pieces, the last pressings were really hard and difficult and were done by the sturdiest men. Even then I understood that the biggest problem in these hills was the lack of water.” So declared Giacomo Oddero himself, and it was from this consideration that his commitment to the Langhe aqueduct was born.
“The family remembers the generous commitment and especially the integrity of Giacomo Oddero,” his grandson, Pietro Viglino, tells us, “who was truly a curator in love with Alba and the Langhe.
Freely and partially excerpted from The Alba Gazette: https://www.gazzettadalba.it/2025/04/la-morra-e-il-territorio-albese-piangono-la-scomparsa-di-giacomo-oddero/