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WINE CONSUMPTION IN THE ETRUSCAN PERIOD (Ground floor)

In antiquity, products such as cereals and vegetables belonged to the sphere of the necessary and the everyday, while wine, by contrast, was consumed together with meat at the tables of the wealthy and was a drink reserved for important occasions and guests. Wine was, in fact, a marker of social status, since it separated the condition of the rich from that of the poor. It is in the Etruscan tombs of high social rank that the most valuable drinking sets (ensembles of vessels used to contain and drink wine) have been found.

The tomb was considered the house of the deceased for eternity, and therefore objects of prestige related to daily activities were deposited there, such as ceramic or metal vessels used for the symposium: an aristocratic gathering where wine was consumed accompanied by music and dance.

Before being filtered and consumed, wine was diluted with water and flavored with honey, rose or violet petals, and sometimes grated cheese.

In the showcases of the archaeological section, there are numerous ceramic artifacts linked to wine consumption. All of them were found in the tombs of the necropolis of Acquaviva, in the territory of Montepulciano, and date back to at least the second quarter of the 6th century B.C., at the beginning of the so-called Archaic period.

1.1 Bucchero amphora decorated with stamped motifs, used for transporting wine
1.8 Miniature bucchero kyathos, used to draw wine from jars or kraters
1.11 Bronze omphalos patera, used for drinking wine
2.2 Bucchero oinochoe, used for pouring wine for guests
4.1 Attic black-figure ceramic amphora, used for transporting wine
4.2 Bucchero hydria, container for water
4.4 Two-handled olla, used during the symposium for mixing wine and water

Wine consumption in the Etruscan age followed a well-defined ceremonial, as indicated by the lids of Hellenistic cinerary urns also displayed in the museum.

On these lids, male and female figures are depicted reclining on klinai (couches), lying on one side, with one arm resting on cushions while holding a patera or a kylix—the containers for drinking—with the free hand. This was the position adopted by the Etruscans during the symposium: a luxurious social ritual, an aristocratic gathering inspired by the Greco-Oriental world. Men and women reclined on couches, conversing or singing, accompanied by musicians and dancers, while servants poured wine.

The symposium was a collective rite and, as such, also carried a religious meaning: each gathering opened with an invocation to the gods, to whom the first toast—made with pure wine—was dedicated. Further toasts followed, offered to the health of various participants.

Viticulture and wine production were entrusted to the protection of the god Fufluns, the Etruscan equivalent of the Greek Dionysus, believed to have gifted wine to humankind: a wine that, when consumed in moderation, revealed hidden truths, but when taken excessively, overwhelmed consciousness and led to madness. Thus, wine became the medium to access deeper knowledge, and the symposium the cultural climax of aristocratic society.

What distinguished Etruscan conviviality from the Greek and Roman was the presence of women, who participated in the symposium and drank wine on equal terms with men.

Besides dice and board games, the symposium also featured the game of kottabos, which consisted of flinging the last drops of wine from a kylix toward a bronze target: a tall stand topped with a disk. Like toasts, the throw was dedicated to someone, and when the target was struck, the winner received a prize—sweets, delicacies, eggs, or kisses.

5.7 Miniature bucchero kyathos, used to draw wine from jars or kraters
5.9 Bucchero infundibulum, used to filter the beverage
6.1 Attic red-figure kylix, used for drinking wine
6.2 Etruscan column-krater with overpainted red figures, used during the symposium to mix wine and water
6.20 Bronze oinochoe, used for pouring wine for guests

One such scene is represented on a red-figure kylix now in the Archaeological Museum of Florence, originally from a tomb excavated in the early 1900s in the Montepulciano area.

The scene depicts Fufluns, the Etruscan god, bearded and long-haired, somewhat tipsy, leaning on a satyr. He prepares to launch wine from a kylix, gazing intently at a jewel-adorned maenad draped in a wide mantle. She holds a small plate atop the kottabos, which must be struck by the final sip of wine, causing it to fall with a characteristic sound into the basin below. The throw was accompanied by the name of the person from whom one desired erotic entertainment.

Fufluns was both a rustic and erotic deity, and through wine, consumed in sumptuous banquets, he allowed the Etruscan elite to display their wealth and status—first in their homes and later in their tombs, where the wine cup sealed an eternal toast.

WINE CONSUMPTION IN THE MIDDLE AGES (Basement)

The vine and wine became an identity marker for Mediterranean civilization—first Greco-Latin, then Christian—distinguished from the barbarian peoples who produced and drank beer.

It was the monks who spread viticulture in Central and Northern Europe. Through Christianity, the culture of wine spread widely: the vineyard symbolized the community of the faithful and thus the Church itself, and wine symbolized the blood of Christ.

Wine production, use, and trade were crucial aspects of all ancient Mediterranean civilizations, which considered wine not only as food but also as a ritual act. It was also a social marker and a precious good, always associated with the sacred, including in the Catholic liturgy of the Mass.

In medieval Italy, wine was by far the most produced and consumed beverage.

Viticulture in Montepulciano is documented as early as 798, and by the mid-14th century the city had issued regulations to govern its trade and export. Wine was present on the tables of all social classes and was sold almost everywhere: in inns, taverns, markets, craft shops, in the street, and even in private homes. Rarely of excellent quality, wine came in many varieties: reds, whites, and sweet wines. It was often spiced, flavored with herbs or fruits, and considered a delicacy, especially at banquets.

Highly valued for its therapeutic properties, it was widely used in medicines. Its alcohol content made it a popular antiseptic, capable of combating epidemics, which spread easily through water.

From the Middle Ages onward, wine began to be drunk in glass vessels.

1 Archaic majolica jug decorated with peacocks, used for pouring liquids
3 Archaic majolica jug decorated with vegetal motifs, used for pouring wine
24 Fragments of glass vessels, including glass bottoms, used for drinking wine

VITICULTURE (First floor, Poliziana Room)

On the first floor of the museum, in the Poliziana Room, visitors can admire a large View of Montepulciano, dating to the 1630s, which documents vine cultivation along the slopes of the hill where the city stands.

The countryside is dotted with farmhouses where grape pressing and fermentation took place. This accurate view shows how viticulture shaped the landscape, determined the economy, and preserved traditions that have continued to this day.

Through archaeology and artistic iconography on the one hand, and reading of the agrarian landscape on the other, it is possible to reconstruct the evolutionary dynamics of this territory.

Wild vines (married vines, climbing on live trees) probably already existed in prehistoric times. Over time, this form of cultivation was replaced by training vines on “dead” supports (stakes and poles). This practice, introduced by the Greeks, gradually spread and eventually became predominant in modern times.

Poliziana Room (first floor)
Tuscan painter of the first half of the 17th century, View of Montepulciano from the Southeast

WINE CONSUMPTION IN THE MODERN AGE (Second floor)

In the great hall on the second floor, immediately to the right, one can admire the painted chalice in the foreground of the Supper at Emmaus. Although painted in the first half of the 17th century, the use of the stemmed glass is already documented in works from the previous century.

Other paintings displayed in this hall also depict 17th-century wine containers. For example, in the work of a Netherlandish painter close to Eberhard Keilhau, known as Monsù Bernardo (to the left of the entrance), a woman is shown pouring wine from a ceramic jug into a bowl.

The same object appears in Carlo Antonio Crespi’s Kitchen Interior, where a glass wine bottle is also depicted, the type often used in elite households. Water, instead, was served in glass jugs, one of which can be seen in the splendid still life by Cristoforo Munari, immediately to the right.

Francesco Canini (?) (Sinalunga?, active 1616–1643), Supper at Emmaus – painting with detail of glass chalice

Style of Eberhard Keilhau, called Monsù Bernardo (Helsingør, 1624 – Rome, 1687), Woman with Jug – painting with detail of ceramic jug

Carlo Antonio Crespi (Bologna, 1712–1782), Kitchen Interior – painting with detail of ceramic jug and glass wine bottle

Cristoforo Munari (Reggio Emilia, 1667 – Pisa, 1720), Glass Jug, Musical Instruments, Books, Musical Score, Letter Sheet, Porcelain Cups, Ribbon – still life with detail of glass jug for water