“No one has ever drunk anything more pleasant than wine: Wine was invented to heal sadness, Wine is a gentle nursery of cheerfulness, It is the cement that strengthens every banquet.” — Varro (fr. 111 Bücheler) Wine Wine, which Alcaeus calls the “mirror of man,” is not a product like bread nor a mere food; it is an extraordinary, inebriating substance endowed with marvelous powers, for the drunkenness it produces allows human beings to overcome their limits and accomplish remarkable feats. Aware of wine’s power, the ancients used it, through the rite of the symposium, as a tool of social cohesion. Storytellers’ voices and lyric poets’ songs accompanied its consumption, so that the satisfaction of the body was joined to that of the spirit. The culture–wine pairing still recurs today, and literature, ancient and modern alike, has highlighted the drink’s qualities in two fundamental ways: first, as an individual experience linked to intoxication; second, as a pillar of conviviality. To r