ITALIAN WINES. The wines of Italy are not very highly valued in other coun t-ries, and almost the whole quantity produced is consumed at home. Those of the n. are for the most part disagreeably acid, and scarcely any one of them can be preserved beyond one year. The vines are grown not so much in vineyards as in the hedgerows— a system which doubtless injures the quality of the wine. In the southern parts, however, where the vines are grown in low vineyards as in France, the wines are of a more fiery quality, and though prepared with little care, they require only to be better known to be esteemed by foreigners. A great variety of wines is produced in Piedmont, and those of Asti and Chaumont have acquired a reputation. The so-called Malvasia wines of Sar dinia are produced at Sorso, Posa, Alghiere, and Naxo. The Malvasias of Caunonas, Monai, and Garnaccia are exported. The beat Italian wines, however, are produced in Tuscany, partly because the climate is most favorable, partly because the former govern ment and many nobles paid great attention to the improvement of the vineyards. Of vines, the Aleatico, or red muscat, is most extensively grown, at Monte Pulciano, between Sienna and Rome; at Monte Catini, in the Val de Rievole, and at Ponte a Moriano. The wine is purple in color, sweet, and slightly astringent in taste. A good red wine is made at Chianti, near Sienna, from a peculiar grape. The wines of Artimino, a former grand ducal estate, and of Carmignano, are also of good' quality. At Areetri, near Florence.
was prepared the best Verdea, or green wine, so called from its color, and much esteemed by Frederick the great of Prussia. Another celebrated wine is the Trebbiano, a gold colored syrup. From the Venetian plain the cultivation of the vine extends into many of the valleys of the Alps which open into it, particularly that of Udine, the valley of the Tagliamento, up to Tohnezzo. and the Piave. 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.. The former Papal states of central Italy produce the wines of Orvieto, and the muscats of Albano and Montefiaseo?e. Lachrymw Christi is produced from vines grown at the base of Mt. and is reputed to be the strongest of the wines in the Naples district. The province of Puglia or Terra d'Otranto produces the wines of Gallipoli and Taranto. Of Sicilian wines only one variety is exported in large quantities, namely, the white or light amber or brown wine, which goes under the name of the exporting 'town of Marsala. In the neighborhood of Messina there is grown the Faro wine, reputed to be the strongest wine of n.e. Sicily. Near Mt. Etna is made the wine of Terre Forte, in the vineyards of the Benedictine monks.