Figure 1.--This photo depicts the grape harvest in Nicolosi, Sicily, probably in the early 20th century. They would have been landless sgricultural wiorkers on a wine-making estate. The photo was not taken during the harvest, but at the end, wearing better clothing than they wore during working. Italian vineyards were adversely affected by the vine louse phylloxera (19th century). This also impacted vineyards in northern Europe. Many prestigious vineyards were devastated. They were replanted, but often with grapes that emphasized harvest quantity rather than quality. The result was that by the early-20th century Italy became a global source of inexpensive table wine.

Well before the rise of Rome, wine was being produced on the Italian peninsula. Wine had a great advantage as it was an agricultural product that could be shipped. It was transported in clay amphora by land or sea. The Greeks arrived in Italy (8th century BC) and bought with them a much more sophisticated art of wine making, introducing innovative techniques. The Mycenaean Greeks developed the most advanced wine making tradition in the ancient world. They introduced viticulture first to Sicily and then to southern Italy. Italy’s mild climate was ideal for growing grapes They called the area Oenotria meaning the ‘the land of trained vines’. Viticulture slowly expanded over time and was an important activity as Rome grew from an unimportant village to a powerful republic. It was Roman victories in the Punic Wars (264-146 BC) that heralded Rome's emergence as a great power. The Punic Wars led to large numbers of slaves being introduced to Italy. One of many impacts was the appearance of large-scale plantations appearing in coastal areas. Slaves provided much of the work force. Growing grapes and creating wine is something that can more easily be done on plantations than small family farms. This enhanced the wine making tradition inherited from the Etruscans in central Italy. The increased production of wine led to wine becoming such a central part of everyday life. Wine like beer would become later in northern Europe had health benefits. Unlike water, the alcohol prevented the transmission of water-born diseases. Demand for wine increased throughout the Mediterranean world. And it proved more profitable than most other countries. Emperor Domitian ordered the destruction of many vineyards to create more land for food production (92 AD). The wine the Romans drank was stronger than the beverage we enjoy today. The Romans diluted it with water. Sweet wines were popular. And the Romans liked to flavoring their wine, including such ingredients as honey, many herbs, salt and some rather strange substances like chalk. Over centuries of Roman history, nearly a millennium, he Romans worked at not only wine making, but flavoring their wine. The Romans developed many advances in the art and technology of wine making. They used props and trellises for therr grapes. They adopted the Greek presses needed for extracting juice. It was the Romans that discovered that aging fermented grape juice could enhance the taste which is why the Romans were the first to store it in wooden barrels. They also were the first to study wine making in detail and record their findings. They classified the grapes used and studied both climate and land characteristics like soil types affecting grape harvests. Rome as it expanded prohibited wine making beyond the Italian Peninsula. (We are not sure about Greece.) This helped prevent competition and created a very valuable product Romans could export to obtain grain, gold ivory, metals, spices, slaves and other goods. Much of Roman trade was within the Empire, but not all of it. Very little wine making took place outside of the Empire. Eventually the prohibition on wine making were relaxed, an vineyards began to appear throughout the Empire, although the Italian peninsula remained a vital center for wines production and marketing. With Ceasar's conquest of Gaul he foundation of the French wine industry was laid (58 to 50 BC). Wine making declined with the fall of the Roman Empire (5th century AD). The art was preserved even during the Dark Ages, primarily by Christian monasteries. With the rise of Islam, wine making was suppressed (7th century AD). This included what had been the Eastern Roman Empire and North Africa, and for a time Spain. As the European economy quickened in the late-medieval period, wine making began to expand again. And during the Renaissance demand for wine increased even more. This continued into the 19th century when Italian vineyards were adversely affected by the vine louse phylloxera. This also impacted vineyards in northern Europe. Many prestigious vineyards were devastated. This occured just as the independent Italian Kingdom was appearing. There was no Government intervention. The vineyards were replanted, but often with grapes that emphasized harvest quantity rather than quality. The result was that in the early-20th century Italy became a global source of inexpensive table wine. There was a significant increases in wine consumption among the Italian laboring classes after World War I (1914-18). One author reports that wine became "associated within the minds of many bourgeois and wealthy consumers with the country's popular taverns and saloons, alcoholism and physical and moral ‘degeneration’." 【Griffith】 The Italian Government during the 19th century gave no real attention to the wine industry. This changed when Mussolini and the Fascists seized power (1923). Puritanical attitudes addressed alcoholism. Fascist authorities closed some 25,000 popular wine osterie (1920s). They also worked closely with the Industrial Wine Lobby (IWL) to raise the prestige of Italian wines and go discourage wine imports. They promoted wine's hygienic and alimentary qualities, stressing moderate consumption of typical national wines. It might be thought that the roots of today's ‘genuine’ or typical Italian wines stretch to antiquity or the Middle Ages but, rather, they were mostly adopted during the Fascist era as the IWL worked with the Government to establish wine as a national beverage. 【Griffith】 Interestingly at about the same time in America, Italian immigrants were establishing an important wine industry in California. Only after World War II in the 1960s did authorities instituted measures to reestablish the country’s once prestigious wine making traditions and establish Italian vintages as luxurious wines. Today laws regulate quality and labeling.

Early Production

The earliest production of wine appears to have occurred in China, but that was unrelated to European production. The earliest European production appears to have occurred in Armenia, Georgia, and Greece. It was Greece whee was the first important production of European wine occurred. It is difficult to export wine from the caucauses. Greece as a peninsula was another matter. Evidence of wild grapes in Greece date back 12,000 years and of wine production 6,500 years. Wine is an important part of the Greek story. Around 1200 BC, people from what is now Macedonia and northern Greece invaded the southern Mycenaean area. This was a monarchy. The resulting war devastated the Mycenaean kingdom, thousands of refugee families who escaped to strong points which became fortified cities -- the generation of the polis. The invaders to consolidate their powers, the invaders offered privileges to common people, thus undermining the power of of existing monarchs and aristocrats. Thus democratic city-states slowly developed with common people having more freedoms and opportunities than noted elsewhere in the ancient world. The common people cultivated small plots of land. These became economical when used for valuable undertakings like vineyards and olive groves. The rocky soil of Greece is not well suited for agriculture, but is for grapes and olives. Ordinary people could own small vineyards, cultivate them, and trade and drink their own wine. Olive oil also became important. A new class of merchants arose to trade in these and other commodities. Wine was at first produced on both a a household or communal basis. This gradually changed as trade in wine became extensive and a major trade item for the Greeks. It was transported from end to end of the Mediterranean by sea in amphora. The Greeks developed considerable in wine making. Priests and rulers initially controlled the vineyards. Ancient Greece is where modern wine culture actually began. Wine consumption made a transition from being a sacred act to a a popular beverage. As a result by the early Bronze Age, the vineyard cultivation of grapes had become widespread in Greece. With the rise of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, wine had become part of everyday life, both for consumption and production. And it was an important Greek trade good.

Early Italian Production

The Greeks began looking for other places where they could produce wine. They founded colonies throughout the Mediterranean. Well before the rise of Rome, wine was being produced on the Italian peninsula. Wine had a great advantage as it was an agricultural product that could be shipped. It was transported in clay amphora by land or sea. The Greeks arrived in Italy (8th century BC) and bought with them a much more sophisticated art of wine making, introducing innovative techniques. The Mycenaean Greeks developed the most advanced wine making tradition in the ancient world. They introduced viticulture first to Sicily and then to southern Italy. Italy’s mild climate was ideal for growing grapes They called the area Oenotria meaning the ‘the land of trained vines’.

Rome

Viticulture slowly expanded over time and was an important activity as Rome grew from an unimportant village to a powerful republic. It was Roman victories in the Punic Wars (264-146 BC) that heralded Rome's emergence as a great power. The Punic Wars led to large numbers of slaves being introduced to Italy. One of many impacts was the appearance of large-scale plantations appearing in coastal areas. Slaves provided much of the work force. Growing grapes and creating wine is something that can more easily be done on plantations than small family farms. This enhanced the wine making tradition inherited from the Etruscans in central Italy. The increased production of wine led to wine becoming such a central part of everyday life. Wine like beer would become later in northern Europe had health benefits. Unlike water, the alcohol prevented the transmission of water-born diseases. Demand for wine increased throughout the Mediterranean world. And it proved more profitable than most other countries. Emperor Domitian ordered the destruction of many vineyards to create more land for food production (92 AD). The wine the Romans drank was stronger than the beverage we enjoy today. The Romans diluted it with water. Sweet wines were popular. And the Romans liked to flavoring their wine, including such ingredients as honey, many herbs, salt and some rather strange substances like chalk. Over centuries of Roman history, nearly a millennium, he Romans worked at not only wine making, but flavoring their wine. The Romans developed many advances in the art and technology of wine making. They used props and trellises for their grapes. They adopted the Greek presses needed for extracting juice. It was the Romans that discovered that aging fermented grape juice could enhance the taste which is why the Romans were the first to store it in wooden barrels. They also were the first to study wine making in detail and record their findings. They classified the grapes used and studied both climate and land characteristics like soil types affecting grape harvests. Rome as it expanded prohibited wine making beyond the Italian Peninsula. (We are not sure about Greece.) This helped prevent competition and created a very valuable product Romans could export to obtain grain, gold ivory, metals, spices, slaves and other goods. Much of Roman trade was within the Empire, but not all of it. Very little wine making took place outside of the Empire. Eventually the prohibition on wine making were relaxed, an vineyards began to appear throughout the Empire, although the Italian peninsula remained a vital center for wines production and marketing. With Caesar's conquest of Gaul the foundation of the French wine industry was laid (58 to 50 BC).

Medieval Era

Wine making declined with the fall of the Roman Empire (5th century AD). The art was preserved even during the Dark Ages, primarily by Christian monasteries. With the rise of Islam, wine making and other alcoholic beverages were suppressed (7th century AD). This included what had been the Eastern Roman Empire and North Africa, and for a time Spain. As the European economy quickened in the late-medieval period, wine making began to expand again.

Renaissance

And during the Renaissance demand for wine increased even more.

Italian Kingdom

Fascist Era

This changed when Mussolini and the Fascists seized power (1923). Puritanical attitudes caused the Fascists to address alcoholic. Which in Italy meant largely wine. Fascist authorities cliosed some 25,000 popular wine osterie (1920s). They also worked closely with the Industrial Wine Lobby (IWL) to raise the prestige of Italian wines and go discourage wine imports. They promoted wine's hygienic and alimentary qualities, stressing moderate consumption of typical national wines. It might be thought that the roots of today's ‘genuine’ or typical Italian wines stretch to antiquity or the Middle Ages but, rather, they were mostly adopted during the Fascist era as the IWL worked with the Government to establish wine as a national beverage. 【Griffith】 Interestingly at about the same time in America, Italian immigrants were establishing an important wine industry in California.

Modern Era

Only after World War II in the 1960s did authorities institute measures to reestablish the country’s once prestigious wine making traditions and establish Italian vintages as luxurious wines. Today laws regulate quality and labeling.

Sources

Griffith, Brian J. "Bacchus among the Blackshirts: Wine Making, Consumerism and Identity in Fascist Italy, 1919–1937," Contemporary European History, Vol. 29, No. 4, (November 2, 2020), pp. 394-415.

Navigate the Children in History Website:
[About Us]
[Introduction] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing] [Disease and Health] [Economics] [Environmental issues] [Geography] [History] [Human Nature] [Law]
[Nationalism] [Presidents] [Religion] [Royalty] [Science] [Social Class]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Index] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Children in History Home]

Created: 4:17 PM 12/1/2023
Last updated: 5:50 PM 12/3/2023