Thriving Viticulture in Southern Italy

After the longest bus ride of the month we have finally found ourselves in breathtaking Southern Italy, home of Naples, our farmhouse/hotel in Sorrento and the ruins of Pompeii. One of the most surprising things about our time in Sorrento has been the lack of meat at meals. Up north every course was extremely meat heavy, but down here ham and steak have majorly been replaced with fresh fruits and vegetables. This isn’t too surprising when you see the vast amount fruitful farmland covering this area of the country. Unlike the farms I’m used to back home in Montana, these aren’t fields of monotonous wheat but a mix of citrus fruits, wine and olives.

 The article Matt and I were assigned for this portion focused on the viticulture of ancient Italy. It was questioning why, despite the difficulty of growing grapes, Italian farmers continued to choose to use their land to grow them when it could at times be very unprofitable. An example of period scholars’ opinion on the farmers’ decisions is Cicero talking to Rullus in 63 B.C. saying “Sell of his woodlands and keep the vineyards – how about that for a prodigal son!” Due to the risk associated with growing grapes, it was deemed unwise to enter the market as a producer. However, the demand for Italian wine, both of poor and great quality and everything in between, made its production impossible to avoid. So it continued, and became a staple of the Italian economy despite its many obstacles.

 After visiting Pompeii, it was obvious why it was one of the few areas of Italy where producers won more than they lost in the wine game. The volcanic soil was a great environment to grow everything under the sun, and the dense population made for an immediate market. It was a blast to roam through the ruins and imagine the bustling port town that once stood beneath Vesuvius, and the wine industry that thrived there.

From Ashes to Sorrento

Though the lack of wifi came as a surprise, a certain amount of utility was found by staying offline during our four-day stay at a small farm-inn on the Sorrento countryside. Defined by fresh organic meals and a friendly lab-mix named Tex, our stay at Le Tore felt like home and provided a wonderful base camp to return to each night.

Our first full day was spent adventuring the ruined city of Pompeii. After Mt. Vesuvius blew its top, the city was flooded with ash, decimating the population and preserving the city. As the ruins were uncovered, many advanced techniques were used, including one plastering procedure that I was particularly impressed by: archeologists would drill small holes down into the earth and pour in plaster, filling crevices crated by organic matter decomposing over time. Through this method many items and individuals were able to be recreated in the position which they resided when the mountain erupted. 

After a great meal and a good nights sleep we were off to the Amalfi coast to see a traditional paper mill. Using hydropower and cloth fragments, paper was produced sheet by sheet that lasted for centuries; a method still implemented to generate paper by the Vatican.  

Day three was highlighted by a three hour trek on the Footpath of The Gods. The views were astonishing, and although Zephyr blew her wrath, Apollo blessed us with warm rays and a clear sky.

We've arrived in Rome and after a four course meal that might have been the best of the trip, I'm caught in a battle of wanting to experience the Rome nightlife and the calling of my bed. The tour of the Vatican will be bright and early tomorrow, and although our trip soon comes to a close, I look forward to reliving this satisfying adventure through these posts and pictures.

St. Francis' Garden

The next article that Kristiana and I presented on was about the garden of St. Francis around the twelve and thirteen hundreds. In this time it was common for these Christian saints, who usually escaped the world to live secluded lives in the wilderness, to have small gardens along with their huts. Unfortunately hardly any records of Francis exist but what we do have are certain hagiographies, most notably from Thomas of Celano’s Remembrance. These hagiographies are essentially a very accurate representation that allows us to interpret a clear depiction of gender roles, legal practices, economic behavior, monastic ideology, and local social customs.

What we do know about St. Francis however is that he aspired to be different than his fellow Christian saints. The typical monastic garden was very tidy with clear perimeters and its contents only served the purpose of medicine and food to survive. Francis’ garden however purposely had no nice ditch, fence, or wall to enclose it, but rather he let the garden grow free without restriction. He also made room in his garden for non-essential flowers that he found aesthetically pleasing as well as letting weeds to enter.

Thomas proposes possible explanations to Francis’ peculiar layout as a stand against the current shift in the monastic gardens. Given the religious nature of Francis, he believed that all of god’s creations were beautiful and he believed in no such thing as “weeds”. The other factor for not having a wall was that Francis was in fact taking a stand against the idea of privatization. The author describes that these rural gardens that have been common use around this time period, have now began changing towards privatization of the land. There was a change in the role of the land from self-sufficiency and happiness to profit maximization. Francis feared that this would destroy the things that he loved the most and used his garden as a way to shed light on this problem he saw.

In our time in Italy, I feel that we have encountered many examples that fit into this pattern of transition from goals of survival and leisure to profit. One especially being the many orange, lemon, and grape vineyards we have visited. I think especially of an orange and lemon garden we visited in Sorrento where what was once a plentiful and beautiful garden has shifted more towards mass production of these fruits. The fact of the matter is that today we live in a much different world than the world in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries where producing only what you need to get by on is no longer much of an option.     

-Hayden

Adulterated Olive Oil

Our most recent expedition included us leaving Orvieto and escaping to a small little farm in Sorento.  On the bus ride towards the farm, Zack and I read and presented an article concerning the vast concern of the fraudulent olive oil business in Italy.  As it turns out, due to the lucrative nature of the olive oil business, extra virgin olive oil is massively fraudulent and often mixed with other oils such as hazelnut oil, sunflower seed oil, and other types of non authentic olive oil (virgin oil or lampante). Due to the exceeding increasing demand of extra virgin olive oil, people are willing to pay the same amount for “authentic” Italian EVOO without fully knowing what real authentic olive oil tastes like.  This is the deciding factor behind many producers willingness to forge extra virgin olive oil.  Being able to charge the same price without having the high costs of producing said authentic oil has historically made many business men very rich.  As the article states, this has been a huge problem for the reputation and economy of the Italian food market, because the government has provided subsidies to these large olive oil producers because of the immense percentage of consumption that Italy represents.  Overall, Italy is the second largest producer of olive oil, behind Spain, and is the leader in consumption of olive oil worldwide.  Due to this statistic, Italy has to import a sizeable amount of olive oil from other countries such as Spain and other European and South American countries.  This is what leaves room for producers foreign and domestic the incentive to dilute their supply of real olive oil in order to meet the supply of Italian consumers without breaking the bank, or losing money.

However you put it, fraud is still fraud.  However, as a class we got the chance to taste and experience real, authentic extra virgin olive oil.  As we stay at a small farm in the hills of Sorento, we have gotten to see firsthand how authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil tastes.  It is hard to say if I have ever tasted olive oil quite like that of this farm, which begs the question if I have every even tasted real EVOO in my entire life… (and I have bought my fair share of Italian olive oil in the states)  Regardless, it is interesting to think about and see the differences between two seemingly identical products.  In terms of economics, these two products should be in the same market, however, as more information is provided to us consumers, there is a visible product segmentation beginning to take place between that of authentic extra virgin olive oil and non-authentic extra virgin olive oil.

Personally, this article has related not only to our travels and experiences, but more so to the economic predicament that is present within the coffee trade in Seattle.  In my experience, Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Dutch Bros, and many other of the not so well known coffee brands are competing for the consumer’s taste buds yet, many of them claim to be “the best coffee”.  Although it is not quite the same, one can see some similarities between how consumers value the information given to them and what this information does to their perception of quality.

I must admit, personally, the olive oil we have in Sorento is hands down the best I have ever tasted. Ever.    

Town and Country

        Visiting Orvieto is such a relief.  I have always been a fan of the big city life, but the last few days in Florence was exhausting.  Sometimes visiting a small town is a refreshing contrast.  

As I walked through the streets of Orvieto, that small town feeling defiantly showed.  I'm sure everyone was wondering who the big group was walking aimlessly in the rain.  Well, we are just a bunch of Americans looking for a big church that you can not miss.  After finding the big cathedral, we were escorted by Allessio to our convent for the night.  I quickly fell asleep thinking what we were going to do the next couple of days.

During our time in Orvieto, we got to speak to the mayor of the town.  Overall, he stated that the big groups of tourists are valuable to the town, because the town relies on a couple other industries and tourism.  After that visit, we were able to visit a library to view some old books and eventually we were led to an underground cave system.  All these activities eventually led up to Zach and I having to present our article.  

For this round of presentations, we read the Article Town and Country: Economy and Institutions in Late Medieval Italy written by S. R. Epstein.  The main focus of the article talks about the relationship that existed around the 14th-16th century.  The article was split up into two sections.  The first section talked about how political and institutional constraints affected the size and growth of a town.  The second section, which I will talk about more in depth, looks into the social and political factors that affect town and country.

Using cloth manufacturing as an example, Epstein compares how that affected the growth of towns.  Starting off with Sicily, it was an area that did not have a workers guild, and the city was mostly informal and unstructured.  During 1400's it had a rise in demand for linen.  Domestic production increased but mostly for low and medium quality.  During that time, Florentine became more prominent.  The urban guild started to control rural guilds and developed a monopoly over production.  This basically led to a corporate strength that controlled the countryside.   

During this time, there was also a strengthening of territorial state.  The territorial state was in charge of granting fiscal and commercial privaleges.  Often times these would benefit the urban area, and more oppressive policies would be placed on the outer towns.  

Throughout the article, the author uses specific examples to explain the relationship between town and country. I believe that at the end, the author puts it most simply. One of the points given is both political and economic factors came into play to whether political states gained or lost.  Also, the relationship between town and country help decide how the state would help with or compromise with towns.  

The Environment: Life, Land, and Sea in the Mediterranean Region

This blog is from a few days ago, but we have not had very much internet, so I'm posting it now

The article Sydney and I presented today was called, “The Environment: Life, Land, and Sea in the Mediterranean  Region.” This article seemed to be a chapter of a book, and gave a lot of background information about the climate and ecosystem of the Mediterranean and its surrounding countries.

It started off talking about the climate of the region, which many say is fairly agreeable. However, the sea contacts 3 different continents (Europe, Africa, and Asia), so there is a lot of variation when it comes to the weather. In Port Said, Egypt, for example, there is an average annual rainfall of 2 inches per year, but in Crikvenica, Croatia that number is increased to 181 inches per year. It also says that there are 2 main seasons, a mild rainy winter, and a hot dry summer with sea breezes. Although the weather has been pretty mild, we can vouch for the validity of the rainy winter, and just today it started raining during our tour of a lemon orchard. Despite this, we have seen many beautiful things that help us understand why the weather in this area is agreeable, with many palm trees and beautiful plants.

Also, it talks about the sea itself, and provides some interesting insights into what makes the sea unique. For example, it is the largest inland body of water in the world, and evaporation takes away an average of 150,000 cubic feet of water per second, which is replenished by water from the Atlantic Ocean coming through the strait of Gibraltar. Another fact I found interesting was the small mountains surrounding the sea are caused by the movement of the northward moving African tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate, resulting in a large amount of small mountains. We have definitely experienced this over the last few days, while we drove from city to city on the bus.

It then talks about the importance of plants and animals in the region. It compares Greece’s 6,000 flowering plant species, to Great Britain’s mere 2,113, despite having only half the land mass. It says this was caused by an ice age that scorched northern Europe as little as 11,000 years ago, while leaving the Mediterranean region relatively untouched. It talks about the different species of plants and animals which tend to thrive in certain regions, and the importance of the over 500 species of fish, of which 120 could be sold, creating a financially viable business in ancient times.

He also talked about how important it was for humans to limit their interference with this ecosystem, because an action can have a domino effect. He discusses the ecosystem like an eagle, who can adjust its flying technique if the wind changes slightly. But not even an eagle can survive a tornado, which is the amount of human interference seen today.   

Wine production To Wine Tourism Experience The case Of Italy

Wine Production to Wine Tourism Experience the Case of Italy Today Eric and I Looked at “Wine Production to Wine Tourism Experience the Case of Italy” which examines territorial intensive products such as the effects of wine and food routes on tourism. Some of the factors that are used to identify territorial intensive products are local traditions, people’s sensitivity to brands of bottles (wine), and knowledge of other cultural and naturalistic resource characterizing the territories visited. We learned the importance of having labels/brands that are unique and not easily copied, and that the success of a business can be dependent on protecting their products identity.

WFRs (wine and food routes) aim to promote rural areas by exploiting wine growing areas and wineries, including cultural and natural resources to attract tourists. The WFRs are mainly dependent on the quality of the wine and of second importance is the food. An example of a WFR is when we visited a vineyard in the Veneto region. We visited the Allegrini vineyard to learn about their heritage and had lunch there. During the visit you could tell that the dominate factor was the wine because it was talked about all the time and there was little mentioned about the food.

In the Cinque Terre it was very interesting to hear that mostly all of the tourism in that area consisted of hoards of people getting dumped off by train or boat to look at the sights. The tourists were unaware that there is so much more to the area such as the wine that they produce and local food specialties.

A picture from are hike in the Cinque Terre