The Italian government is considering economic compensation for the victims of the 1986 methanol wine scandal, according to the head of the victims' association.
Roberto Ferlicca said on Thursday that "the institutions are examining a proposal for economic compensation which would then be brought before parliament".
However, Ferlicca added that "our optimism remains guarded. Although it was important that we did have a meeting at the premier's office at the end of January, we still cannot say that after 20 years we are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel".
Ferlicca' thanked the national Wine Cities association for its support and lobbying efforts "which helped draw attention back to an ugly event which risked being forgotten.
Wine Cities chairman Valentino Valentini also expressed his satisfaction for tthe compensation question being put on the government's agenda and added "let's hope this whole matter will have a dignified closure after so many years of silence".
Italy's methanol wine scandal claimed 34 victims between those who lost their lives or went blind.
In 1992, the supreme court handed down a definitive sentence against 11 defendants, four of whom were convicted of murder.
The court also ordered that each of the victims receive one billion lire, about 500,000 euros, in damages but no one was paid because those responsible for the scandal had gone bankrupt.
The methanol scandal broke in March 1986 when a series of deaths were attributed to methanol poisoning from drinking wine.
It was later discovered that starting in December of 1985 a number of wine producers in northwest Italy, perhaps as many as 30, were cutting their wines with excessive amounts of methanol, which in small quantities was used to increase the level of alcohol.
A total of 26 deaths were attributed to drinking the tainted wine and dozens of people had to be hospitalised for methanol poisoning, some of whom went blind.
The scandal crippled the Italian wine industry but marked a watershed for the sector which since then has placed greater emphasis on safety through health controls and shifted its focus to the production of quality wine.
At the time of the scandal, only a few vineyards were producing what could be considered as prestigious wines and the market emphasis was clearly more on quantity than quality.
Since then the situation has been completely reversed with the development of dozens of top quality labels which have won international recognition and allowed Italy to become a major wine exporter.
Last year, Italian wine exports to the United States broke the one-billion-dollar threshold in value for the first time ever and also set a record for volume, surpassing the two-million-hectoliter mark.
