Background The vineyard landscapes of North Apennines areas are affected by various soil threats, such as erosion, decline of organic matter, local and diffuse contaminations, sealing, compaction, decline in biodiversity and landslides. All these are generated by environmental factors (such as geomorphology and slopes, climate change and soil types) and behavioural factors (such as vineyard and soil management practices). These soil management practices stem from radical changes in farming practices and cultivation techniques in recent decades. The abandoning of these areas and the gradual introduction of mechanisation has led to profound changes in land use and management. In particular, the standard floor management strategy adopted in the vineyards of the Emilia-Romagna region mostly relies upon tillage as the main weed controller. In addition, increasing adoption of mechanical harvesting has led to a season-long maintenance of grass sward in the vineyard. The excessive use of tillage creates several other problems, including topsoil erosion (leading to landslides and soil fertility loss) and the worsening of several chemical and physical soil properties. Objectives The LIFE+ SOIL4WINE project aims to prevent various soil threats affecting the vineyard landscapes of North Apennines areas, such as erosion, decline of organic matter, local and diffuse contaminations, sealing, compaction, decline in biodiversity and landslides. It will achieve this aim within four protected areas of western Emilia-Romagna: Parco dei Boschi di Carrega, Parco del Taro, Parco dello Stirone and Parco della Val Trebbia. The specific objectives are to: Achieve better soil management in the whole vineyard system, while preventing erosion and increasing the content of soil organic matter; Develop and test an innovative decision-making tool that helps vineyard farmers to assess their specific soil and environmental problems, apply the best management practices and evaluate the results; Define the social, economic and environmental constraints of the proposed viticulture practices and of the soil ecosystem services in the pilot areas, and use this information to design innovative soil conservation policies based on PES (payment of ecosystem services); and Promote a participatory approach in order to facilitate the replicability of the project across Europe and set up local agreements on soil, biodiversity and ecosystem services. LIFE+ SOIL4WINE will contribute to the goals of the EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. Furthermore, it will create synergies with other EU policies such as the European Innovation Partnership on Agriculture Productivity and Sustainability that focuses on land management, including the efficient use of resources and sustainable use of agricultural soil. It also in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, Target 2, which focuses on maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services and restoring degraded ecosystems. Expected results: A database of the main soil threats and the related environmental problems (REPs) in at least 100 vineyards of the pilot areas; Distribution of a questionnaire on soil threats across the EU (at least 300 questionnaires answered); Guidelines for good soil health practices to efficiently address soil threats and REPs in vineyards (10 guidelines drawn up); Design of a decision-making tool to guide grape growers to evaluate their soil threats and implement the best solutions. This tool will be tested by 24 farmers in the pilot areas and 40 across EU, and the innovative solutions will be applied in 24 vineyards; Increase of soil quality in the pilot farms (increase of organic matter content by 10%, increase of water aggregate stability and microbial activity (QBS-ar) by 50%, decrease of soil compaction by 10% and soil nitrate content by 25%); Data on the social and economic constraints that may affect farmers’ decisions to introduce the new solutions proposed by the project (20 farmers involved); Data on the technical and economic viability of large-scale introduction of the proposed soil management solutions, and economic evaluation of the soil ecosystem services and indirect effects on the landscape value generated by the project activities (four pilot farms involved); and Feasibility study of a monetary compensation system (PES) to ensure the continuation of the soil conservation practices (at least four PES considered).