A SOCIAL HISTORY OF WINE IN VENICE
Discussion led by Prof. Marco Zanetto. Wine was of great importance on both a human and social level in the Most Serene Republic, and even this aspect of the city’s provisioning was severely regulated by the its political and judicial bodies as early as the twelfth century, first through the Old Judiciary, later through the New. Serving wine was a source of income and relevant legislation governed the various levels of quality and ways in which the product might be sold. Typically, an osteria, a “bacaro” or an inn would be passed down from father to son, and licences for new enterprises of this sort were especially hard to come by.