The world is enamored with Italy: its culture, art, food, and fashion, its beautiful landscapes, and famous cities-and, of course, its wine.

From the ancient Greeks to the Medici, and from fascism to feminism, Italy has always been entwined with wine. Through the millennia, it has been a celebratory libation at great events, given solace in times of despair, and fortified warriors before battle. Whether Possessioni Rosso, still made by descendants of Dante; Barolo “Lazzarito,” from a wine estate founded by the son of Italy’s first king; or Terre Rosse di Giabbascio, pressed from grapes grown on ex-Mafia land, the peninsula’s wines provide an intoxicating insight into the ideas, events, and personalities that shaped Italian history.