178 GRAPE CULTUltE AND WINE-MAKING. 



good wines ; around Pavia but poor ones, witli tlie exception of 

 an effervescent wine resembling, in a measure, the Champagne. 

 All the produce of Milan is not quite adequate for home con- 

 sumption. The quartero contains nearly six litres, the mina two 

 quarteros, the stare four, and the harilla twelve. 



Marsala, in Western Sicily, produces a similar, but inferior wine 

 to that of Madeira, and exports a great deal to America under 

 the name of Madeira. 



Modena produces very dark wines, tolerably good, but poor in 

 spirits. The best of this kind is produced at Rubina and Sapolo. 



In Tuscan}^, the Monte Pulciano is a strong, spirituous, red wine. 



The wines of Naples are mostly sweet. On the Mount Vesu- 

 vius three kinds of wine are made : 1. Lacrima Christi — the best 

 sweet wine of this country — of a fine red color, and of an excel- 

 lent taste and bouquet. Very little of it is made, and this goes 

 mostly into the cellars of the king; therefore that in trade is 

 mostly spurious. 2. Muscat, of an amber color, with a line taste 

 and bouquet. 8. Greek, a kind of Malvasie. Puzzuolo and Baja 

 have white and red sweet wines, which often sell for Malvasie. 



Calabria produces good Muscat wines, mostly at Carigliano and 

 the environs of Tarento. The wine-measure is the barilla of for- 

 ty-two and a half litres ; twelve barillas make one hotia, or about 

 one hundred and twentj^-two and a half gallons ; two bottas, one 

 caveo. 



Piedmont produces keen, but sweet and dark-colored red wines, 

 which mostly sour in August or September, turn next year into 

 vinegar. But some wines form an exception to this general rule, 

 where more careful wine-growers observe a judicious procedure. 

 The best wines are made in Asti and Chaumont. Alba has also 

 some good, but not strong wines. Gatinara, Masserano, and the 

 red wines of Biella keep better. Montferrat has distinguished 

 white and red wines, mostly those of Casal, fifteen leagues east of 

 Turin. There the ruho has about two gallons, the hrenta six ru- 

 bos, and the carro (a wagon-load) ten brentas. 



Puzzuolo, a village in Naples, raises red wines similar in taste 

 to the inferior qualities of Bordeaux ; but it bears transportation 

 by sea, and finds ready markets in Holland, Hamburg, America, 

 etc. 



In the Romagna, the grape-vines are trained upon elm-trees ; 

 and, for this reason, they do not ripen always ; and, by careless ' 

 preparation, the wines are bad, and keep rarely over a few months. 

 The wines from Albano and Orvieto are exceptions. The latter 

 place produces a tenable red wine, and a white Muscat with a 

 good bouquet and a balsamic perfume, but of not long keeping. 

 Farnese and Terni have also some good wines. At Rome, the 

 barilla has about eleven gallons English, and the botta sixteen 

 barillas. 



Sardinia sends her wines mostly by Cagliari. She has Malva- 



