“IS IT TRUE THAT MEDIEVAL MONKS WERE HEAVY DRINKERS? WHAT COLOR WAS WINE IN THE MIDDLE AGES? DOES THE CORAN REALLY PROHIBIT ALCOHOL?” - THESE QUESTIONS ANSWERED DURING A CONFERENCE BY THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES STUDIES CENTER FOUNDATION AT SPOLETO

Is it true that medieval monks were heavy drinkers? What color was wine in the Middle Ages? Does the Koran really prohibit alcohol? The answers to these questions and many of the other curiosities of wine enthusiasts were explained by the High Middle Ages Studies Center Foundation (Cisam) at the “Wines of the World” event held recently in Spoleto.

Cisam president, Enrico Menestò explained that, yes, “monks were heavy drinkers, at least 3 or 4 liters per day per person, for a total of 1,000 liters per year per person… but Chapter 46 of the ‘Rule of Saint Benedict’ prescribes a maximum half liter per day. For this reason…monks were prohibited from frequenting bars, but the ban was put into effect when these practices were already well entrenched”.
As for the color of wine, it was not the same as the sea, to cite a text by Sciascia, but rather a, “mahogany color”, according to Professor Tullio Gregory, an academic at the Lincei and director of the European Intellectual Lexicon of the CNR. It is a color that was the result of the thinness of grape skins, and the acidifying techniques that were used to condense the wine, which would then be diluted with water.

And then there was the discussion on whether the Koran really prohibits drinking alcohol. Citing evidence that in the paradise of Allah run two rivers of wine, as well as numerous Sufi poems, Gregory confirmed that, “In regards to the fact that Islam has banned drinking since the VI century, it is a falsity… Wine is a drink of divine love because it creates elation and oblivion of all that exists in the world… it is the light that shines in every place… it is the true attraction… and paradise, the meeting place of God, is where ‘everything has drunk this wine’”. According to enologist Luca Maroni, prohibition arrived much later for reasons of hygiene, because the water of the Middle Ages, with which the nectar of the gods was diluted, was dirty.

The myth of wine as a symbol of life, of mystical inebriation, is also found in Jewish mythology. Noah, for example, after descending from the ark, planted a grapevine before anything else. Why? “Because” – explained once again Professor Gregory, citing a Latin saying: “prius quae necessaria, voluptaris requiverit”. Or, “man provides for the goods that he desires, because God provides for those that are necessary”.