88 CULTIVATION OF THE 



grounds. The wines are in general like those 

 produced in the vicinity of the capital, and little 

 variety appears until arriving at the village of 

 Chiuse, the ancient Clusium and capital of Por- 

 senna, which, on account of its noxious atmos- 

 phere, has a sparse population, and makes but 

 little wine. 



At Radicofani, the frontier town, we leave 

 Tuscany, and on entering the Roman territory, 

 the first vineyards in estimation are at Bolsena, 

 on the pretty little lake of that name, the ancient 

 Lacus Vulsenus. 



Although the vineyards commence at Bolsena, 

 the wine is known as the Orvieto, from a small 

 town of that name in the neighbourhood. The 

 vineyards produce an excellent light wine, of a 

 pale transparent amber colour, and when drunk 

 in its purity, is of a highly delicate flavour, but 

 little inferior to the famed production of Vesu- 

 vius, without possessing so much body. The 

 wines of Orvieto, so extremely delicate, are sen- 

 sitive to injury by the slightest deviation from 

 the ordinary method of conservation. Trans- 

 portation to a distant country, or even the adja- 

 cent provinces, being out of the question, it is 

 only known in perfection in the Roman State. 



The next wine on the road which deserves at- 

 tention, is at Montefiascone. a fortified town, 

 surrounded by highly cultivated vineyards, where 

 a greater care appears to have been given to the 

 vineyard than at any point of the road leaving 

 Florence. The wines of Montefiascone are de- 

 servedly considered among the finest of the 

 wines of Italy. Tradition tells us of a German 



