About Italian Vineyards
Food and wine are the main reasons people travel to Italy for a relaxing, culture filled vacation. The Italian vineyards seem to dot nearly every hill in most of the areas one might visit. Until recently, these vineyards were only open to tourists on special occasions, now they are more tourist friendly and welcome guests with full glasses of their very best wines.
Since Italy has calm, even temperatures for growing grapes, they boast 20 different grape-growing regions for wine and over 2,000 individual grape varieties indigenous to the country. Many of the wineries are now opening their doors to tourists for visits and tasting on day trips while others are allowing guest to stay for a few days as part of their vacation. Some of the Italian Vineyards are located near medieval castles, which have been turned into five-star hotels, complete with all the amenities of those in the larger cities.
No matter where you plan to vacation in Italy, there is sure to be a winery near you. The main wine regions are in the cities of: Rome (Lazio); Milan (Lombardy); Naples (Campania); Florence or Pisa (Tuscany); Venice (Veneto) and Genova (Liguria). The wine regions are in parentheses.
There are various tours that couples, groups of friends or families could sign up for to view the Italian wineries and all they do to create great tasting wines. In addition, there are several festivals that are celebrated throughout the year that people may want to plan their Italian vacation around.
In 1993, the Movimento Turismo del Vino, The Tourist Movement of Wine, was created to persuade wine makers to welcome visitors and participate in one or more of the many festivals that help bring more visitors to the region. Beginning in April, Vinitaly for You is four days and four nights of vendors and consumers mixing together to find the perfect wine. The MTV organizes a grand evening one of the nights for visitors to enjoy the beautiful country spring evening and as much wine as they would like.
The last Sunday in May has been reserved for the Cantine Aperto, a festival that includes over 800 open wine cellars who receive more than one million visitors on that single day each year. In honor of San Lorenzo, every August 10th, the MTV holds a wine tasting festival for showcasing some of the finest wines in the country. This festival is held in some of the finest piazzas in Italy and also features great music.
At the end of September, Benvenuta Vendemmia is celebrated by almost al wineries throughout the country and sponsored by the Movimento Turismo del Vino. This celebration is to honor the harvesting of the grapes. The Italian vineyards are never short on excuses to open the wine bottle and celebrate with new and old friends, good food and good music.