{"id":992269,"date":"2026-03-21T00:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wayanatapas.com\/?p=992269"},"modified":"2026-03-22T21:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:08:15","slug":"wine-and-fascism-by-robert-camuto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wayanatapas.com\/en\/wine-and-fascism-by-robert-camuto\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Traces in Italian Wine: From Mussolini to a Modern Renaissance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert Camuto is a writer whose work on the wine worlds of France and Italy I follow with genuine interest. In one of his recent pieces, he examines how the turbulent period that led Italy into fascism a century ago reshaped not only its wine industry but also its wine culture. Reading it, I realized that revisiting that era from a fresh perspective offers a powerful lens through which we can better understand the current landscape of Italian wine.<\/p>\n

Camuto builds his narrative partly on the ideas of the Futurist movement of the 1920s. One of its notable figures, Umberto Notari, authored L\u2019arte di bere<\/em> (The Art of Drinking<\/em>), a sharp, witty, and influential work that would later play a significant role in what came to be known as the Italian Wine Renaissance. This piece, however, steps back to take a broader view of Italy, offering a concise account of what unfolded in this pivotal wine nation\u2014and perhaps prompting us to ask what lessons might be drawn for our own.<\/p>\n

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Italy Before Mussolini: In the Shadow of Migration and Poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the eve of fascism\u2019s rise, Italy was grappling with the lingering pains of unification (Risorgimento) and a deep economic crisis. Southern Italy (the Mezzogiorno), in particular, was mired in poverty due to the remnants of feudal structures and inefficient agricultural policies. For many Italians, \u201cthe land\u201d had ceased to be a nurturing mother and had become a burden to escape.<\/p>\n

Between 1880 and 1924, nearly 17 million Italians emigrated overseas\u2014primarily to the United States\u2014in one of the largest mass migrations in history. What they left behind were \u201cvillages without men,\u201d neglected vineyards, and abandoned towns. Mussolini\u2019s rhetoric of \u201creturning to the land\u201d and restoring \u201cnational pride\u201d was built upon the trauma of these emptied landscapes.<\/p>\n

An Ideological Bond with the Land: \u201cTerre Italiane\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the ideological pillars of Mussolini\u2019s regime was the glorification of rural life. Fascism positioned peasantry and attachment to the land as virtues in opposition to urbanization. In this framework, wine became a symbol of the Italian man\u2019s strength, endurance, and ancestral roots reaching back to Ancient Rome.<\/p>\n

The regime framed wine as \u201cthe blood of Italy,\u201d embedding viticulture into the very fabric of Mediterranean identity. Yet this exaltation was less a product of rational agricultural policy and more a symbolic tool of propaganda.<\/p>\n

The \u201cBattle for Grain\u201d and the Fate of Vineyards<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1925, Mussolini launched the Battaglia del Grano<\/em> (Battle for Grain), aiming to eliminate Italy\u2019s dependence on foreign imports. The regime ordered that every available piece of land be used for cereal production. For Italian wine, this marked the beginning of a difficult chapter:<\/p>\n