Italy, Magna Graecia, and Roman Italy

The pastoral past of the tribes of Italy may be reflected in the use of milk in libations rather than wine (see pliny, Natural History, 14. 88), but viticulture and wine will have made an early impact as part of greek and etruscan culture (see origins of viniculture for more details). sicily may have played a key role in the development of viticulture on the mainland. The Sicilian Murgentina grape, which flourished in volcanic soils, was successfully transplanted near pompeii on the slopes of Vesuvius, where it was called locally the Pompeian grape. This in turn was introduced further north around Clusium (Chiusi) in Etruria, where it proved particularly prolific. Again, the Eugenia, the high-quality grape from Tauromenium (Taormina in Sicily), successfully found a home in the Colli albani south of Rome, but was a failure elsewhere.