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Wine cellar scene

Plaster cast of the original (early 3rd century A.D.)
c. 1930
Rome, Museo della Civiltą Romana
Inv. M.C.R. 3524

 

The original marble relief carving is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

APPROFONDIMENTI

Wine cellars and taverns

Despite the vast diffusion of Tyrrhenian wine, the literary sources agree that some of the best wines were those coming from the Greek Islands, most notably Kos, Chios and Lesbos. Among the Italic wines, Cecubo and Falerno were deemed exceptional. This was not a negative judgement of Tyrrhenian wines, but an appraisal that shows how attentive the elite market was to fine imported wines, which differed in both quality and price.