Verdea

Also known as Colombana Bianca, Colombana, San Colombano, Colombano Gambo Rosso.

A white native grape whose exact single origin is disputed among ampelographers — some form of it (or a related, similarly-named grape) is found in Lombardia, Emilia's Colli Piacentini, and Tuscany, with the Tuscan/Piacentine tradition tending to call it "Colombana"/"Colombana Bianca"/"San Colombano" while Lombardia most often keeps the name "Verdea." Its heaviest historical concentration is in the Milano, Lodi, and Pavia provinces, above all around the San Colombano al Lambro DOC zone (whose own name directly references the grape's Tuscan-derived synonym) — MASAF's national register carries it as scheda 251. Registro clones show a conical-pyramidal, medium-large cluster with large oval berries. Traditionally used for both dry whites and passito (dried-grape) sweet wines.

Collina del Milanese IGT names it directly as the sole grape (minimum 85%) permitted for varietal labeling of its passito typology when the base is an aromatic white variety suited to Lombardia — the disciplinare glosses it explicitly by the synonym "Colombana bianca." Genuinely distinct, despite the superficial name resemblance, from "Verdese" (data/grapes/verdese.json), an unrelated Como/Lario-area native registered separately in 1996 — the two are not the same grape under two spellings, confirmed by independent sourcing (Civiltà del Bere) describing Verdese as its own, separately rescued and registered Lario variety.