“ROMA CAPUT VINI” - THE BOOK IS THE HISTORY OF WINE ORIGINS AND THE DISCOVERY OF A GENE, THANKS TO ATTILIO SCIENZA, ONE OF THE GREATEST VITICULTURE SCHOLARS IN THE WORLD. WINENEWS HAS EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW OF MAIN CHAPTERS

“Roma Caput Vini”, Giovanni Negri’s most recent literary work, will soon be out in bookstores. The book is a detailed historical reconstruction of the origin and diffusion of the vine in Europe, and also the site of a sensational genetic discovery, thanks to more than thirty years of research by Attilio Scienza, Professor of viticulture at the University of Milan, on the origin of life that “gave birth” to all European vines: the “heunisch” (Hun), identified through DNA analysis. Winenews has obtained the exclusive preview of the main chapters of the book and particularly those that narrate the discovery of the vine. 

But “Roma Caput Vini” offers even more surprises. If you watch a movie about the battles in ancient Rome and look closely at the centurions, you’ll see that they hold a stick in their right hand, called “vitis” a vine branch. Following Horace’s warning to the letter, “You shall plant no tree before the sacred vine, o Varus”, Rome made its military troops plant the vine, and established that the head of the army would carry a scepter depicting an icon of the vine. Giovanni Negri tells the extraordinary story of wine in Rome, which has its key moment in the second century B.C., when wine, a luxury drink for Patricians, became “vinum”, nourishment and pleasure for the masses. From the taverns in Rome to the wild parties in Pompeii, from the personal wine guide Pliny the Younger to the combination of wine-food-sex, from choosing to export vines to all the regions in the Empire during the Prohibition era, it is an amazing tour that teaches about wine in ancient Rome and discover that wine is to Rome and its Empire as Coca-Cola is to the United States, confirming that many of today’s celebrated wines, both Italian and French, were born at the hands of the ancient Romans. The book will be presented during a “road show” in some of the most important Italian wine locations: starting November 18th, at Feudi di San Gregorio (Avellino), then Bellavista (Franciacorta) and AIS-Bibenda (in Rome), Planeta (Messina), Castello Banfi (Montalcino) Enoteca and Roero (Cuneo). The author, Giovanni Negri, journalist and writer, also produces Barolo, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Langhe region. He has also held the position of Secretary of the Radical Party. He has published numerous books including “The blood of Montalcino” (Einaudi, 2010). “Roma Caput Vini” has been written in collaboration with Elizabeth Petrini, who works in the energy sector and has conducted research on the origin of the names of European wines. 


Focus - The real core of “Roma Caput Vini” -
A sensational genetic discovery through DNA analysis 78 European grape vines are the genetic great-grandchildren that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus entrusted to his legions, and were planted all over the Empire, from Britain to Pannonia. This vine - the heunisch (Hun) - is also the vine that has produced two-thirds of all European wine until the high Middle Ages. The father of today’s European wines is Marcus Aurelius Probus - Rome’s military power, but also agricultural power in peacetime, who had his soldiers plant the vine on the continent, which was a powerful tool for the dissemination and cultivation of the vine. Thanks to DNA analysis and Professor Attilio Scienza’ team, today in 2011, we finally know what happened from 280 AC onwards, when Marcus Aurelius Probus annulled Domitian’s edict, selected a grape variety and sent his legionnaires to plant it throughout the Empire.