GATTINARA, ITALY — A black-and-white photograph in the Antoniolo winery shows the vineyards of this town in northern Italy 100 years ago, when vines seemed to cover every inch of the Alpine foothills that begin to rise here, along the banks of the Sesia River. The scene is different now. Only a few patches of vineyards are left, tucked away in the forests that climb toward the snowy peaks along the Swiss border.

Few wine regions have experienced as sharp a decline as northern Piedmont, where the vineyards of Gattinara and neighboring towns like Ghemme and Boca used to cover more than 40,000 hectares, or about 100,000 acres. Like other European vineyards, these were decimated by successive plagues of phylloxera, a pest that feeds on grape vines. But there was less incentive here to replant with phylloxera-resistant vines, because factories and textile mills in nearby cities like Novara and Milan were luring away the agricultural work force with higher-paying jobs.

Now, a mere 1,500 hectares of vines are left. But what northern Piedmont lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality, originality and authenticity. As word spreads, these vineyards are putting themselves back on the maps of wine lovers interested in trying something different.

“Today, people are looking for more traditional wines, wines with a natural rapport with the place where the grapes came from,” said Lorella Zoppis Antoniolo, one of two siblings who run the family-owned winery. The valley of the Sesia, which descends from the glaciers of Monte Rosa, the second-highest peak in the Alps after Mont Blanc, delivers.