Central and Southern Italy

Table of Contents
  1. Tuscany (Toscana)
  2. Umbria
  3. Marches (Marche)
  4. Abruzzo
  5. Latium (Lazio)
  6. Molise
  7. Campania
  8. Apulia (Puglia)
  9. Basilicata
  10. Calabria
  11. Siciliy (Sicilia)
  12. Sardinia (Sardegna)
  13. Review Quizzes

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Tuscany (Toscana)

On the Tyrrhenian Coast of Italy, the region of Tuscany has become a byword for Italian culture. A famous artistic legacy and rich history match the natural beauty of the Tuscan countryside, unfolding in waves of golden and green hills that ebb and flow between the Apennine Mountains and the sea.



Wine is deeply embedded in Tuscany’s cultural heritage—the famous medieval Florentine poet Dante Alighieri praised the Vernaccia of San Gimignano, and legislation delimiting the Chianti zone dates to 1716. The first DOC and DOCG zones to be authorized in Italy were Tuscan. Wine and commercial agriculture are big business in Tuscany, and the hills are a patchwork of olive tree groves, vineyards, and wheat fields—a natural evolution of the “promiscuous” agriculture that ancient Romans practiced, wherein these three staple crops of Tuscany were planted side by side in the same fields. In the past, Chianti was synonymous with Italian wine—and a reminder, not unfairly, of its troubled quality. Historically bottled in a fiasco due to the inferior quality of Italian glass, the squat, straw-covered Chianti bottles came to epitomize the rustic, cheap nature of Italian wine in the late 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Tuscany’s winemakers have responded with a surge in quality over the last quarter century, slashing vineyard yields and building on the successes of the “Super-Tuscan” trailblazers Marquis Mario Rocchetta, who released the first commercial vintage of Sassicaia in 1968, and his nephew Piero Antinori, whose Tignanello bottling soon followed. While the benchmark for quality has been raised significantly, it may be at the expense of typicity—the Bordeaux grapes and model of winemaking extend great influence over the modern Tuscan
Comments
Anonymous
Parents
  • Can we have the notes on Zibibbo and Nero d'Avola updated?  The study guide here implies that Zibibbo is a non-native grape (first documented references to it on the Sicily under the Zibibbo name pre-date any references outside of Sicily by over 200 years, with the Muscat of Alexandria moniker only appearing in the 18th century vs the early 16th century Zibibbo) and the reference to Calabrese as being possibly of Calabrian origin ignores the etymology of the grape from old Sicilian Calau d'Avrisi or "Grape from the Avrisi Valley" (later, Avola).

Comment
  • Can we have the notes on Zibibbo and Nero d'Avola updated?  The study guide here implies that Zibibbo is a non-native grape (first documented references to it on the Sicily under the Zibibbo name pre-date any references outside of Sicily by over 200 years, with the Muscat of Alexandria moniker only appearing in the 18th century vs the early 16th century Zibibbo) and the reference to Calabrese as being possibly of Calabrian origin ignores the etymology of the grape from old Sicilian Calau d'Avrisi or "Grape from the Avrisi Valley" (later, Avola).

Children
  • Hey Mark! In regards to Nero d'Avola/Calabrese, D'Agata confirms the grape's Sicilian origins. He interprets calau avulisi as "down from Avola." The guide is updated to reflect that. For Zibbibio, it is the progeny of Moscato Bianco and Axina de Tres Bias. Axina de Tres Bias' home is the Greek islands and it is also grown in Sardegna. Though the first documented reference of the variety is in Sicily, there is not enough evidence to tie the grape's origins to the island. Greece, Southern Italy, and Sardegna all have strong claims as the home of the grape.