摘要:The Italian wine industry is in a critical position. After a great development during the last decade of the XX century, based on the expansion of his position in the international trade and on the stabilisation of the domestic market, now the industry is facing a reduced export activity – respect to the beginning of the century – and increasing import. All firms have, therefore, to reorganise long term strategies and current operation in order to sustain the new challenges of the market. In order to offer a better understanding of the current scenario, this paper analyses the Italian position in the world wine market, considering the different wine typologies and importing countries, and evaluates if some crucial elements in competitiveness (factor cost, industry structure and profitability) can be considered as evident weaknesses. This paper outlines that the recent performance of the Italian wine industry in the international trade has been really different considering different wine typologies and countries. In addition, the paper shows that the decreased competitiveness of the industry as a whole, is not directly caused by the factor cost; the small size of the exporting firms appears as an evident weakness, but a not sufficient quality of the competitive processes operated by a relevant firm share in the industry is also a crucial issue.