From time immemorial Italy has been noted as a wine-growing country, and at the present day, next to the cereals, wine is the most important production of her soi]. The amount annually made has been variously estimated, but is probably as much as 800,000,000 gallons, of which but a small proportion is of good quality or fit for export. The Falernian, Massic, Caecuban, and other growths famous in ancient times, are now known only by the descriptions of them found in old Latin writers, no means of identifying them with modern wines being accessible. For many centuries succeeding the overthrow of the Roman empire vinification was practised after the most primitive methods; and although, vines were grown and wine was made in every province of the country, it was exclusively a local product, intended for home consumption. This state of things may be said to have practically extended into the present century. Forty years ago Italian wines of high grade were scarcely known to the inhabitants of the country, and still less to foreigners.

Now they have an established reputation, and by the close of the century are not unlikely to become formidable rivals of the best growths of France and Germany. This is due in great measure to the formation of cenological societies, which have encouraged the practice of wine making after improved methods, and to the general development of the national life since the union of the Italian people under one government. Grape culture in many parts of Italy, and notably in Lombardy and Venetia, is practised on a different system from that prevalent in the chief wine-producing countries. The vines, instead of being closely pruned and attached to low stakes fastened in the ground, are allowed to run up the trunks of trees, planted in rows for that purpose. The maple, trimmed to the form of a pollard, is the tree most commonly employed, and its branches, stripped of the greater part of their foliage, form the support of the head of the vine. The shoots of the latter, when they have attained a sufficient growth, are twisted into a rope and then tied to a similar rope from an adjoining tree.

Rows of trees thus festooned with vines, loaded in the vintage season with full clusters of grapes, present a peculiarly attractive appearance, and form one of the most picturesque features of the country; but the grapes never attain that perfection, even in the climate of Italy, which is necessary to produce wines of the first class. In fact, it has been proved from experiments made under government direction during the vintage of 1873, that the must obtained from vines thus trained usually contains one third less saccharine matter than that from vines trained on the low system, as practised in the best wine-growing countries. The result is a thin, acid wine, which cannot be kept for any considerable period. In certain parts of Italy this method of cultivation is so intimately connected with the general system of agriculture, that no immediate change is probable or perhaps possible. This is especially the case in the level country, and it is consequently in the hilly and mountainous districts that Italian viticulture will be the soonest developed. - Twenty-five years ago the wines of Piedmont first became known to any considerable extent outside of the country; but their name had scarcely been established in the London market when the grape disease, which for a time almost paralyzed vinification throughout Europe, attacked the vines of northern Italy. The district of Asti, long celebrated for the superior quality of its wines, was only partially affected by the disease, and continued to produce abundantly while the rest of the country was suffering from its effects.

The reputation which the Asti wines thus acquired has continued to the present day, and is founded in no small degree upon superior skill in manipulation. Hence it is customary to designate the Barbera, Barolo, Nebbiolo, Brachetto, Grignolino, and all other varieties of wines which are the common produce of Piedmont, as wines of Asti, and to sell them as such. As a rule these wines are full-bodied and somewhat rough, but are capable of being greatly improved by increased carefulness and skill. Attention has recently been called to the admirable sites presented by the valleys and mountain slopes bordering on Switzerland, and no portion of Piedmont gives better promise of viticultural development. Upward of two centuries ago the Valtellina, then a dependency of the Swiss canton of the Grisons, yielded wine which found a ready market both in Switzerland and Germany; and it is believed that the Val di Sesia, the Val d'Aosta, and in fact the whole adjoining Alpine district of Piedmont, can in a few years be made equally productive. - The plains of Lombardy and Venetia yield an immense amount of wine, although, owing to the system of culture above described, which prevails there, the quality is poor. It contains very little sugar or alcohol, much acid, and no aromatic properties.

But here, as in Piedmont, the Alpine district, bordering on Switzerland and Tyrol, presents unsurpassed facilities to the intelligent wine grower. "In many of these valleys viticulture might attain the highest perfection if it were directed to quality, and if selected vines were grown in closed vineyards with that care and attention which are bestowed upon this branch of production on the Rhine and in France. Here wines might be produced which would be unsurpassed by any other wines in the world. Here there is an equable temperature, and a sufficiency of those precipitations of moisture during nights of calm radiation from the neighboring hills. Here is rain at the proper time, and plenty of the direct rays of the sun come in the warmth of August, when the vine is most in need of it. Indeed, here are all the conditions for producing not only a sweet wine such as is common in climates which have only sun and heat, but for the production of those flavored wines which are the privilege of those parts of the world where the so-called great wines are grown." (Thudicum and Dupre, "Treatise on Wine.") The indolence characteristic of the Italian race has hitherto prevented the development of this favored region; but under the present improved conditions of the national life, and in view of the increasing demand for wines of high grade, its future seems full of promise. - In Tuscany wine making may be said to have been brought to a higher degree of perfection than in other parts of Italy, mainly because for many years it has been conducted by persons of means and superior intelligence.

The former grand-ducal government encouraged it, and the nobles made their vineyards an important source of income, selling their wine at retail from their cellars by the flask. This has a capacity of three quarts, and is not stoppered in the usual manner. A film of oil is deposited on the surface of the wine at the neck of the flask, and answers the double purpose of keeping off the air and of allowing the escape of any bubbles of carbonic acid that may arise in case of after fermentation. The oil may be flung out, or soaked out with tow, previous to using the wine. The most famous wine of Tuscany was for many years the Montepulciano, once designated the "king of wines;" but latterly the product of the vineyards of Chianti, near Siena, made from a peculiar grape, has obtained the supremacy, and almost every good flask of wine sold in the country now goes by that name. It is full-flavored and astringent, with an alcoholic strength equal to about 20 per cent. of proof spirit. The wines of Artimino, a former grand-ducal estate, and of Carmignano, are also of good quality.

To these may be added the verdea, or green wine, so called from its color, produced at Arcetri, near Florence, and the Trebbiano, described as a "gold-colored sirup, made from grapes passu!ated on the vine by torsion of the stalk." - The best known wines of the former Papal States are those of Orvieto and the muscats of Albano and Montefiascone, all of good repute. The southern portion of the Italian peninsula yields a large amount of spirituous wines, many of which reach foreign markets in a highly fortified condition. Those of Gallipoli and Taranto have been known to reach the ordinary strength of cognac. Lach-rymse Christi, the most noted growth of this part of Italy, is a name liberally bestowed on all sweet red wines made there, although the genuine is grown only on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. It has a wide reputation, but is rarely met with in perfect condition. The Capri wine, both red and white, is also celebrated, but, like the Lachrymae Christi, is too often a spurious or factitious product. - Sicily, once fruitful in wine and oil, now produces but a single variety which is exported in large quantities; this is the Marsala, an amber-colored or brown wine, which derives its name from the seaport Marsala, whence it is shipped to various parts of Europe and America. It is generally strongly brandied before leaving the island, and much of it is transformed into imitation sherry.

Red wines are also grown in Sicily, which, owing to their low price, are exported to various parts of Italy and to America. The total quantity of wine produced has been estimated as high as 200,000 pipes, of which less than a fifth part is believed to be fit for exportation. The island of Sardinia produces a considerable amount of red and white wines of fair quality; but the art of wine making is very imperfectly understood there, and the quantity produced is far below the capacity of the soil.