A Journey of Malvasie, The Wine of Kings

(Venice, Italy) A Journey of Malavasie, the Wine of Kings, From Karst to Sicily or Il Viaggio delle Malvasie, Vino dei Re, dal Carso alla Sicilia, will be a magical mystery tour right here in Venice on Monday, May 14, 2012. Stories, exhibitions, 100 wines from 30 producers, and traditional Venetian food await you, so those of you who are here for the America's Cup World Series, and everyone else in town, head on down to Giardini from 11:00AM to 7:00PM and join the festivities.

The day is organized by dall'Associazione dei Ristoranti della Buona Accoglienza di Venezia, a group of 14 restaurants in Venice known for their high quality, warm welcome and respect for tradition, in collaboration with Fondazione Ligabue and Slow Food Venezia with the patronage of the Venice Comune's Cultural Activities Department. From the Associazione's excellent website:

The Associazione dei Ristoranti della Buona Accoglienza brings together 14 restaurants, which range in type from typical trattorie to international-class restaurants, but share a love of Venetian gastronomic culture and the desire to protect and promote the products of the lagoon area.

The Ristoranti della Buona Accoglienza always offer their guests the chance to enjoy the pleasures of dining in a friendly, refined atmosphere, in comfortable, peaceful surroundings.

Dotted throughout the city of Venice and its islands, they offer a wide variety of culinary proposals which, always respecting local tradition, never lack a touch of imagination and innovation.

The Malvasia family of wines comes from ancient Greece -- from the Sparta region -- where the Venetians later established a fortress surrounded by the Ottomans Turks. From Wikipedia:

Island fortress of Monemvasia 17th century

Most ampelographers believe that the Malvasia family of grapes are of ancient origin, most likely originating in Greece. The name "Malvasia" is generally thought to derive from Monemvasia, a Venetian fortress on the coast of Laconia, known in Italian as "Malvasia"; this port would have acted as a trading center for wine produced in the eastern Peloponnese and perhaps in some of the Cyclades. During the Middle Ages, the Venetians became so prolific in the trading of "Malvasia wine" that merchant wine shops in Venice were known as malvasie. A competing theory holds that the name is derived from the district of Malevizi, near the city of Heraklion (known to the Venetians as Candia) on Crete. In any case, Malmsey was one of the three major wines exported from Greece in medieval times.

The Venetians have always had their eye on the region; in fact, perhaps some of you might be surprised to learn that if it weren't for the Battle of Lepanto back on October 7, 1571 -- just yesterday around these parts -- Italy, if not much of Europe, might have fallen under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. According to Wikipedia, "some Western historians have held it to be the most decisive naval battle anywhere on the globe since the Battle of Actium of 31 BC."

GraphicMaps.com

 The subtitle of the festival is "From Karst to Sicily." Most of us know where Sicily is, but just where is Karst? From Wikipedia:

Karst (Italian: Carso; German: Karst; Slovene: Kras); also known as the Karst Plateau, is a limestone borderline plateau region extending in southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the valley, the westernmost part of the Brkini Hills, northern Istria, and the Gulf of Trieste. The western edge of the plateau also marks the traditional ethnic border between Italians and Slovenes.

The entrance costs 15 euro, and that includes a wine glass, so head on down to Giardini on Monday!

Click www.ilviaggiodellemalvasie.it for more information.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog