“Wine was food, part of the necessary calories of the day” for those that worked here in years past said Vittorio delle Ore, the proprietor of the Villa di Maser, to our small group visiting earlier this summer. Even the site of the villa, long called Villa Barbaro after its founders, was because the Barbaro brothers in the mid-16th century thought it was advantageous for vineyards he further explained.
That statement was not surprising to me, but the juxtaposition of it with the extraordinary setting, in one of the most famous buildings designed by Andrea Palladio – “the perfect Renaissance villa,” according to a British Academy article and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site – while we were surrounded by magnificent and sometimes whimsical frescoes by Renaissance master Paolo Veronese covering its walls and ceilings, helped to emphasize just how important wine has been to Italian life over the centuries. Though wine is luxury to many people today, where vineyards grew historically, wine was an important part of the daily diet for nearly all.
And in a link to its history, the vineyards here are still producing wine, now under the Villa di Maser label. Wine remains a significant part of Italian life, maybe not as essential to everyday living but important for economic and cultural reasons, not to mention gastronomic and celebratory. And, Villa di Maser’s wine were part of our enjoyment later.
The front of Villa di Maser, from Wikipedia
That statement was not surprising to me, but the juxtaposition of it with the extraordinary setting, in one of the most famous buildings designed by Andrea Palladio – “the perfect Renaissance villa,” according to a British Academy article and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site – while we were surrounded by magnificent and sometimes whimsical frescoes by Renaissance master Paolo Veronese covering its walls and ceilings, helped to emphasize just how important wine has been to Italian life over the centuries. Though wine is luxury to many people today, where vineyards grew historically, wine was an important part of the daily diet for nearly all.
And in a link to its history, the vineyards here are still producing wine, now under the Villa di Maser label. Wine remains a significant part of Italian life, maybe not as essential to everyday living but important for economic and cultural reasons, not to mention gastronomic and celebratory. And, Villa di Maser’s wine were part of our enjoyment later.
The front of Villa di Maser, from Wikipedia
