ITALIAN SCENERY, MANNERS, A N D CUSTOMS. 4P
FILATE XXI I .
THE VINTAGE.
T h e vintage is celebrated ill Italy with all the solemnity and rejoicings of it's ancient inhabitants.
Although these orgies are equally noisy with those of the Bacchanalians of old, yet nothing
appears at them to tinge the cheek of modesty with a blush. From the month of September
to the cud of November the wealthy citizen retires to his country-house, where he enjoys
the pleasing sight of the vintage ; and it is at this time of mirth and festivity that the friend or
acquaintance is invited. Each person, neither ladies nor children excepted, is iurnishcd with
a basket and a knife, and assists the j)easants in gathering the grapes. This operation is conducted
quietly, as the work is attended to with assiduity and diligence; and it is not till the
fermentation of the juice is completed, and the wine is ready to be removed from the vat into
the casks, that the vintage rejoicings begin.
During the gathering time, indeed, the landlord gives balls and suppers, to which the peasants
are invited, but only on Sundays ; and these feasts are never protracted to a late hour, as
the work must recommence the next morning. But during the time the casks are filling, all is
noise and merriment, particularly after dinner, when they never fail to drink largely of this new
wine, >vhich produces an immoderate gayety rather than drunkenness. Every evening they
dance, and generally on the threshing-floor in the open air.
The principal day is that on which the wine is all got safe into the casks. An hour after
sxmset the peasants and domestics of the house sit down to supper at a long table in the cellar
where the vats arc kept. The landlord, his family, and friends, wait at the table, and the peasants,
imitating the custom of the Roman slaves at the feast of Saturn, call freely for M-hat
tiiey want. After supper the ball commences in the open air; and the space around is illuminated
with lamps suspended from the trees, and bonfires. At this ball all precedence is banished
; the master and servant mix indiscriminately together, and a duchess, if requested,
does not disdain to dance a minuet with her footman. This amusement continues till ten or
eleven o'clock, at which time they return into the house; the master and his friends now sit
down to supper, while the peasants and servants in their turn attend on them. The dancing
is aftcrM'ard renewed, and kept up till the coolness of the morning begins to incommode the
dancers, heated as they arc with wine and exercise.
They who have not been employed as labourers in the vineyard crowd to the publichouses
for the purpose of drinking new wine and dancing, and this forms the subject of the
annexed Plate. The drawing was taken at Tivoli, near Rome. The house has a branch of a
tree fastened to tlie wall, which is the usual sign for such places of accommodation in different
parts of Italy. ii
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