Travel

Wine museum in Torgiano
August 2009

Wine suited the needs of the mankind from the ancient times.

The history of wine can be traced through various angles, such as instruments of production and table accessories; contiguous professions and industries; religious and social rituals and habits; even representation of wine in different arts. Wine themed expositions are widely presented around the world. They vary from historic tools and family relics, like in Bodegas Lalanne in Somontano, Spain, or Fattoria dei Barbi in Montalcino, Italy, to impressive museum collections, like El Museo de la Cultura del Vino Dinastía Vivanco in Rioja, Spain, and even wine art collections (Museum of Wine in Art in Chateau Mouton Rothschild, France) and wine attractions (Loisium in Austria). There is another amazing place where wine appears in essentially different forms. It is Museo del Vino in Torgiano, a small Italian borgo in Umbria.

Quiet medieval Torgiano bears little resemblance to two nearby cultural centres — Perugia and Assisi which attract hordes of tourists. Yet the town should be a must for everyone who is seriously interested in wine.

A durable stone palazzo is built right in the centre of Torgiano. The facade of this 17th century edifice is perhaps not as remarkable as some others, but a unique act, going back to the origins of the wine history, unfolds behind its walls. The wine museum in Torgiano is a splendid collection of historic artefacts and art pieces which make wine a fascinating object of research and lead to contemplation its role in the life of human cultures and civilisations.

It is worth noting that the museum is private, it is part of Fondazione Lungarotti. The Lungarotti name doesn’t need to be introduced in the wine circles. In early sixties Giorgio Lungarotti was the initiator of a winemaking coup in Umbria. He moved on from centuries old methods of vineyard cultivation and wine making to modern systems of grape growing and wine production. Thanks to his innovative approach Cantine Lungarotti wines have long enjoyed an international recognition.

At the same period, at the turn of winemaking epochs, a wine museum was created in the Lungarotti’s native town of Torgiano. Its foundation was a pioneering project as much as new winegrowing and winemaking techniques. The museum opened its doors in 1974 — the time when wine, especially in Italy, didn’t have the same cultural significance as it is implied nowadays. Besides, people’s attitude towards museums was different, as they were viewed as a conservative establishment which in Italy also meant a certain political slant.

Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti, the wife of the late Giorgio Lungarotti, has been the chief curator of the museum since its foundation. Her background in art history and long work with archives were the basis from which Signora Lungarotti gradually built one of the most comprehensive collections dedicated to the sole object — wine.

It is impossible to describe all exhibits displayed in the museum — there are over 3,000. A simple catalogue count takes several dozen of pages. The collection is featured in a number of detailed works including a superb book “Wine: Mythology and Culture” (published by Fondazione Lungarotti, available in Italian and English, see here.

Those interested in the ancient world will be thrilled to see initial exposition halls. There are archaeological finds dated 3,000 years B.C. from the Minor Asia and the Cycladic Islands, but the nucleus of the antique collection is made of later objects from Greek, Etruscan and Roman cultures. A whole wall is dedicated to ancient wine trade and the spread of wine in the Mediterranean: amphorae have various shapes which speak of wines’ origin and are made in a way that they can be easily stacked. The calendar of ancient sea voyages was very tight. Ships were loaded to a maximum capacity and wine amphorae were placed one on the other in several rows.

Of the Roman exhibits, it is curious to see glass bottles blown about two thousand years ago and fragments of stone tubs for pressing grapes where the juice came out through sprouts. These tubs were widely used until the 18th century and almost survived to our days: they could be found in Italian wineries just half a century ago.

Etruscan things are perhaps the most significant part in the antique collection. A mysterious civilisation that lived in the first millennium B.C. adopted many Greek wine traditions. Etruscans viewed wine as a symbol of transition between the past and the future life — scenes of banquets are cut of cinerary urns. They drank wine with wishes of good life, as also confirmed by a wine kylix by an Attic master, Phrinos, who worked in Etruria in the 6 century B.C. “Phrinos made this cup to be happy”, says the text on the orange-and-black kylix, one of the finest gems in the museum’s collection. Phrinos belongs to a group of the “Little Masters” of the period, and his works are also present at the British Museum in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. On the one side the cup is decorated with a rooster, a symbol of Apollo, a patron of light and the fine world, on the other — with a swan, a symbol of Zeus, who besides everything else was a keeper of homes and rituals.

In the Middle Ages the role of wine and winemaking is especially significant in religious and social life. A vine was, literally, a symbol of new Christian life and helped to convert pagans and barbarians. Wine motifs still decorate important medieval architectural monuments in Umbria, such as Santo Stefano Church in Assisi, Duomo in Orvieto and Palazzo dei Priori in Perugia.

Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti collected many archive documents and photographs of architectural monuments where high status of winemaking in medieval Umbria is confirmed. Vineyards spread largely thanks to the efforts of the Benedictine monks. By curious coincidence, the founder of the monastic order, Benedict of Nursia, comes from Umbria. The Benedictines needed wine for religious ceremonies and medical preparations, for daily meals and special celebrations. On display there is a copy of a contract between a monastery in Gubbio and a sharecropping farmer. The document is dated 921 and instructs the farmer to grow vines.

Another proof that winemaking was a common practice in the area is on the bas relief of the medieval fountain in Perugia. Fontana Maggiore by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano is probably the most beautiful 13th century fountain. Its lower basin is a calendar where each month is represented by certain works. September is the time for picking grapes and making wine.

And how were vines cultivated those days? “Vites maxime gaudent arboribus, quia naturaliter in sublime procedunt” (“Vines best enjoy trees as they naturally move upward”– my translation), wrote Columella, a Roman expert on agriculture in the first century. Indeed, vines were often planted next to trees so that they could climb up a tree’s trunk and branches. The training system was known as vita maritata, or married life. Maple was a frequent choice thanks to its strong roots and easily shaped crown. For us who are used to seeing straight lines of trellises, it is almost shocking that vines on trees like in the Roman Empire were quite common in many parts of Italy only 30-40 years ago. The process of tending such vines was documented through a series of photographs taken by Signora Lungarotti.

This story can be told as a parable about the fragility of winemaking when progress (thank goodness, positive this time) within a decade or so can make void the foundation laid thousands of years ago. But another parable is featured in this part of the museum — “A spider and grapes” by Leonardo da Vinci. An animated cartoon tells how a spider who made a net for midges next to the biggest and most aromatic bunch of grapes, ended up in a harvesting basket. “Thus grapes were a trap for perfidious spider. He was spinning nets for others, but got entangled himself and was squashed”.

In the basement, following the logical division of the palace into “elevated” (for masters) and “lowly” (for servants) rooms, one finds tools of winemaking. The attention is instantly drawn by a gigantic Cato press named after Roman statesman and thinker who described this type of horizontal beam press in the 1 century B.C. Just to imagine that this 17th century giant was used for pressing wine until 1973! The same room houses a vertical Pliny press, after famous Roman naturalist, whose records about this mechanism date 1 century A.C.

There are several other winemaking devices and objects including olla, a Roman terracotta vessel identical to a Georgian kvevri. Next is a photograph showing that two thousand years ago Romans put olle into the ground repeating the practice invented in the Caucasus.

Between the halls on winemaking and contiguous crafts one passes through a small exposition dedicated to vino santo, “sacred wine”. Vino santo was passed from religious ceremonies to secular use. It was drunk during important holidays and was served to guests. The sweet wine of Umbria was usually made with white Moscato, Grechetto and Pecorino grapes, but in Montefalco, now famous for red dry Sagrantino di Montefalco, local Sagrantino variety was until recently used only for sweet red wines (in the Russian orthodox church sweet red wine, kagor, is also used). Vino santo was commonly served with aniseed waffles cialde, they were made with flour, egg, sugar and some sweet wine. There is a special museum room with numerous waffle irons. Discs were engraved with intricate designs which were then stamped on waffles. The oldest iron is dated 1152, it was used to make waffles for religious communions, the youngest comes from 1935 (or year XIV according to the fascist calendar as seen on the disc), it was a gift of Modena city to dictator Benito Mussolini.

Several halls recount the laws which governed grape picking, sales and consumption of wine, as well as the history of winemaking and other crafts in Torgiano.

Initial halls contain an eclectic mix of wine vessels for special events and places of consumption, but the museum’s central collection is undoubtedly that of ceramics. The choice is not a random one, as Torgiano is situated only a few kilometres away from Gubbio and Deruta — two major maiolica (glazed pottery) centres in Italy. Exhibits are presented along the following three themes — wine in its direct use as a beverage, wine as medicine and wine in association with myths and the world of art.

Wine jugs, flasks and measuring vessels also served as means of communication in the Middle Ages. Messages included, among others, heraldic emblems, religious stories, domestic scenes and simply wishes of good life. Wine vessels would have human or animal like shapes, from mermaids to dragons, and some of them, known as “bevi se puoi” (drink if you can), were also used for playing pranks.

From 14-15 centuries the maiolica craft was getting more sophisticated. New techniques appeared such as zaffera (use of cobalt to obtain dark blue colour) and lustro (a lustre technique that didn’t allow errors during painting). Renaissance and baroque objects in the museum are of special value. The collection also includes a number of love cups which were in high demand in old times, crafting them provided a good income.

Wine was drunk not just as a nutritional beverage. It had a wide therapeutic use, as witnessed by jugs, bottles, cups and other things in the “Wine as medicine” hall. Wine was prescribed as curative, it was also part of infusions and other preparations — such as famous theriac, an antidote that consisted of over 50 herbs, snake flesh, wine and other ingredients, and it was prepared in front of sovereigns and rulers. With the invention of printing medical texts quickly spread: some antiquarian works are presented next to ceramic vessels. Starting from 16 century not all texts were recognised by official medicine. The exhibits linked to popular cures were chosen as introduction to the topic of wine and myths.

Wine mythology is inseparable from its Greek patron Dionysus (known as Bacchus in Roman mythology), most museum pieces are dedicated to him. The god of wine appears in different characters. Here’s one of the finest exhibits — a plate by Gubbio master Giorgio Andreoli who worked in the 16th century. The work is signed as “Infantia de Bacho” (Bacchus infancy), it was inspired by Rafael. A small child-god holds a ripe bunch of grapes and feeds a languid satyr who holds an amphora with wine in his hand. At about the same time in another famous workshop, in Florence, a bust of young Bacchus is created, the work is attributed to famous Girolamo.

The stairs lead to the modern collection of ceramics where a visitor first gets under the spell of a giant plate — a mask of green Dionysos Eydendros (1983) made by Englishman Joe Tilson. There are pieces by many representatives of modern art, including Jean Cocteau and Nino Caruso.

Final museum halls contain drawings, prints, book plates and books on the topic of wine. There are over 600 drawings and prints alone, they embrace the period from Renaissance to nowadays. Famous names include Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna, Flemish mannerist Bartholomeus Spranger, French classicist Nicolas Poussin, Italian 19th century illustrator Bartolomeo Pinelli and outstanding modern artist Pablo Picasso. The work of the latter is “Bacchanalia” print in which a Spanish bullfight unexpectedly turns into a celebration of life. The toreador is dancing and playing a flute, while the bull becomes a goat — a recognisable allegory of Dionysus.

A small room presents an extraordinary exlibris collection. In the mid eighties Museo del Vino held competitions for artists and collectors of book plates. There are several names from the former USSR among the winners of the first couple of competitions.

And finally, the last room where the most significant literary and scientific wine books are kept. These are mostly antiquarian books which include religious works, proverbs, almanacs, scientific works on winegrowing and winemaking, books on wine and gastronomy. From Homer to Plato, from Poliziano to Rabelais, from Columella to the 20th century researchers — the topic of wine will always be discussed while human life continues.