Italy is one of the largest producers of wines. Its climate, soil and very old traditions make Italy a natural wine growing nation. The wines are as personal as a name, as different as the colors of the rainbow and as much a part of Italian life as almost 3,000 years of tradition can make them. The Etruscans of North-Central Italy, who created one of the peninsula's earliest civilizations, left evidence of how to make wine. The Greeks who soon after established themselves in the South gave Italy the name Enotria (the land of wine). Tuscany (Toscana) is known mainly for Chianti, while Tuscany's wine of greatest stature is Brunello di Montalcino.
The fame of the excellent wines that began as Italian home-grown versions of Bordeaux has spread throughout the world of wine connoisseurs, but until recently the region itself was ignored by most visitors to Tuscany. Now though, more and more oenophiles are diverting to come to the pretty hills by the Mediterranean to discover the Maremma's secrets for themselves.
The whole of Southern Tuscany is crisscrossed with wine routes. You can visit the various cellars sampling the dark, rich wine produced by the region's grapes, but furthermore the routes take you through some of the most outstanding areas of southern Tuscany.