Italy is quite possibly the oldest wine-producing region in the world, and archaeologists have found evidence that Etruscans were making wine well over 2,000 years ago. Writers dating back to Petrarch and Dante have mentioned Chianti and Sangiovese, varietals that are still grown in the same regions today. Exploring Italy's wine country offers abundant pleasures for wine-lovers, including the opportunity to taste and learn about new wines and enjoy excellent vintages with Italy's finest food, as well as tour the beautiful Italian countryside. Tuscany Tuscany is in Central Italy, along the southern portion of the Apennine Mountain, a range than runs down the Italian peninsula. The region is famous for its Chianti and Sangiovese wines, as well as its Montepulicano and Brunello varietals. Siena, a beautiful medieval city on the edge of the Chianti foothills, is known as the gateway to Tuscan wine country and provides a good base to explore several vineyards. Tuscany's largest vineyards include Castello Banfi, Casa Vinicola L. Cecchi and Biondi-Santi, all of which are easily accessible through Siena.

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna encompasses Emilia, the region west of Bologna in the Po River valley, and Romagna, which is in the Po delta. Perhaps the most highly-regarded wine from the area is Lambrusco, a light red that is often characterized as flavorful and zesty. The grapes for Lambrusco are grown on tall trellised vines on the hillsides of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The Cantine Romagnoli vineyard in Modena is a good place to start exploring the area's best wines. Bologna is the area's largest city, and two popular areas to stay include Rimini, a scenic resort town, and historic Ravenna. Both are on the Adriatic coast. Veneto Veneto, located near Venice on the Adriatic Sea, is characterized by humid flatlands and is one of the most important wine-growing areas in Italy. Valpolicella, Bardalino and Soave come from Vento, and the Amarone della Valpolicella, grown near the hills of Verona, ranks among the best red wines in the world. The vineyards near the small town of Valdobbiadene are prized for making sparkling prosecco, Italy's answer to Champagne.

Verona is home to prominent vineyards in Veneto, including Azienda Vinicola Fratelli Fabiano and Fratelli Bolla, and serves as a good base for visitors. Other popular places to stay are Treviso and Padua. Slider images: Attribution: John Menard; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license Attribution: Blackcat; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license Suggest an Article Correctionbest wines with tasteFor more expert holiday selections see our guides to the top 10 villa holidays in Italy, beach holidays in Italy, activity holidays in Italy and cultural holidays in Italy.best wine origin Serious cooks should check out Stirred, who run a really first class residential cookery school in Casagrande, a gorgeous 15th century classical villa in the foothills of the Italian Dolomites. good bc white wine

Between hands-on sessions learning the secrets of perfect homemade tortellini, brasato all’amarone, and fig with ricotta cheesecake, there are day trips by boat to gather ingredients from the fabulous canal side Rialto fish and fresh food market in Venice, walks into the forest to gather truffles with local hunters and tours of local vineyards and cheesemakers to gather unforgetable tastes. glass of wine size ukJake Simpson, head chef of Bocca di Lupo in Soho, and Italian food-writer/chef Ursula Ferrigno will be joining the gifted team at Casagrande for 2017. best wine served coldAlong with robust Valpolicella reds, like the mighty Masi, and some fine local Soave served with dinner, this year there will be in-house Bisol prosecco tastings.red wine good for hair loss

have six-night cookery courses and food tour breaks from the May 14 to October 8 for £2,695 per person, including all tuition, tours, trips, tastings, food, wine and accommodation. This flight-free food and wine tour of Lyon and Piedmont starts and ends at St Pancras. After a direct Eurostar ride to Lyon and a food tour of the Renaissance-era old city there is an evening meal in a traditional 'bouchon' Lyonnaise restaurant. good cheap wine blogThe tour continues by TGV to Turin and a transfer to Cuneo, the culinary capital of Italy’s Piedmont region, famous for its wild mushrooms, truffles, cheeses and wines. best boxed white wine ukThere are side trips for wine tastings and meals in local restaurants in the Langhe region, Barolo and Saluzzo and a visit to Hemingway’s old haunt the Cafe Arione in Cuneo to try their famous rum-filled chocolate treat of Cuneesi al Rhum.online wine uk gifts

The eight-day Gastronomic Piedmont 2017 tour leaves from St Pancras on select dates in April, May, June and September, with prices from £1,445 including Eurostar (premier class) to Lyon, TGV (first class) to Turin, Eurostar (premier class) back to London, all road transport, food and market tours, all accommodation, wine tastings and 13 meals.  What would Italian cuisine be without olive oil? Many Italian regions claim to be the place for extra virgin production: Liguria – with its distinctive taggiasca olive variety – ranks high on the scale of excellence. The newly pressed liquid gold is celebrated over a long weekend in November, in the OliOliva festival in Imperia-Oneglia, where Ligurian growers meet with counterparts from around the Mediterranean, chefs feed the crowds with local oil-laced specialities, and stands sell olive oil cosmetics, unguents, medicines and much else. Also here is the Museo dell’Olivo, which celebrates the tree and its fruit year-round; next to the museum, an olive press opens its doors to the public during the pressing season.

To experience the beauty of the region’s olive groves, follow one of the walking routes detailed on the terrediriviera.it website. Follow this link for our guide to the on the best hotels in Liguria. OliOliva is held in mid-late November; ) is open Mon-Sat. (Lee Marshall)Then why not build a short weekend in Puglia around two really special lunches? Aim to arrive at Bari Airport on Saturday in time to pick up a hire car by midday. Then drive to Antichi Sapori, where almost everything comes from owner-chef Pietro Zito’s farm. The simplest dish – like pasta al pomodoro – is revelatory. After lunch, make the short drive to Castel del Monte – Emperor Federico II’s majestic but mysterious empty castle. Then head towards the coast, aiming for delightful Polignano a Mare (hometown of Domenico Modugno, who wrote Volare). Stay at cute centro storico b & b Dimora Santo Stefano, then head back to Bari the next day via Rutigliano, where the fixed lunch served up by agriturismo Lama San Giorgio – which includes a carafe of delicious Primitivo di Manduria wine – is one of Puglia’s best deals.

Antichi Sapori (Montegrosso, near Andria; 00 39 0883 569 529; antichisapori.pietrozito.it); Dimora Santo Stefano (santostefano.info); Lama San Giorgio (Strada Provinciale Rutigliano-Adelfia, km 8.7; 00 39 348 334 2889; lamasangiorgio.it). For more of the best hotels in Puglia, see our guide. Cooking schools that reconnect you with real food through home-grown, farm-to-table, organic and zero-food-miles produce have mushroomed in Italy over recent years, but ones that extend the philosophy to butchery are rare. Slow Food-inspired New York chef Jason Bartner does just that at La Tavola Marche cooking school, in his pretty stone farmhouse in the central Marche region. There are half-day and day-long lessons (including one in whole-hog butchery) after which students consume what they have whipped up. Or you can make a holiday of it, taking one of the five guest apartments and following a more varied course which might include foraging for wild edibles, making sausages, exploring local markets or savouring ales at a local microbrewery.

Take the mountain route inland from Maiori, on the bumper-to-bumper Amalfi coast road, and within a few minutes you’re away from the crowds in a rural landscape of olive groves, chestnut woods and vines. Some of the oldest of the latter can be seen at Tenuta San Francesco, a family-run winery in the village of Tramonti that recently took a qualitative leap. Don’t miss the wine-tasting lunch, which takes in a bevvy of excellent wines, including our favourite, delicate, fragrant white Per Eva. Tenuta San Francesco, Via Sofilciano 18, Tramonti (00 39 089 876 748; vinitenutasanfrancesco.it). For recommended hotels in Positano, see our guide (Lee Marshall) The historic cities of Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma have enough cultural sights to fill a month of Sundays, but as often in Italy, culture is not confined to art and architecture. This is an area where food reaches Sistine Chapel levels of refinement – as anyone who has tasted the miracle that is real, traditional Modena balsamic vinegar will know.

Operated out of Bologna by Alessandro Martini, Italian Days Food Experiences organises day trips (7am-430pm) that take in a Parmigiano Reggiano factory, a family-run balsamic vinegar concern, and a fragrant Modena ham workshop. Extensive tastings are included. Tours (Mon-Sat) from €150/£125 (00 39 338 421 6659; italiandays.it). For tips on what to see and do in Bologna, and where to stay, see our guide (Lee Marshall/Nick Trend) Trust stylish Florence to showcase the gastronomic scene with such flair. Organised by Pitti Immagine – the people behind the city’s fashion shows – Taste (March 11-13, 2017) brings 300-odd niche producers of some of Italy’s finest foodstuffs (plus a handful of others from further afield) to the Leopolda, a strikingly converted railway station in the centro. Elsewhere, the city buzzes with many more “Fuori di Taste” side-events. Dedicated foodies time their Florence visits to coincide with the spring festa, where everything can be sampled and bought, but only in the supermarket at the exit, meaning that there’s no pesky hard-sell as you make your way around the stalls.

For the best hotels in Florence, see our guide.  It’s perhaps not surprising that the partly German-speaking region of Alto Adige, aka Südtirol, has the best-organised wine tourism initiatives in Italy. The Wine Road or Strada del Vino meanders through 16 wine towns in the upper and lower Adige valley, home to a myriad of small producers, many engaged in heroic winemaking on steep but scenic plots. For an overview, sign up for a Wine Safari at the Strada del Vino HQ in Appiano (Eppan): they take place on the first Thursday of each month (830am-730pm), or on other days by request for groups of 10 or more, and take in vineyard and cellar visits, wine tastings, and lunch. During the Vino in Festa festival (May 25), a month of wine-related events culminates in an open-cellar night, when the organisers thoughtfully lay on a free shuttle bus for tipsy revelers. Wine Safari €110 (£92) a head (00 39 0471 860 659; suedtiroler-weinstrasse.it). For hotels in the South Tyrol, see our guide (Lee Marshall)