Italy in a Wineglass - by Marc Millon (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A leading travel writer guides readers on a sumptuous journey through time and flavor to understand how and why wine transformed Italy. The world is enamored with Italy: its culture, art, food, and fashion, its beautiful landscapes, and famous cities--and, of course, its wine. From the ancient Greeks to the Medici, and from fascism to feminism, Italy has always been entwined with wine. Through the millennia, it has been a celebratory libation at great events, given solace in times of despair, and fortified warriors before battle. Whether Possessioni Rosso, still made by descendants of Dante; Barolo first king; or Terre Rosse di Giabbascio, pressed from grapes grown on ex-Mafia land, the peninsula's wines provide an intoxicating insight into the ideas, events, and personalities that shaped Italian history. If history can sometimes be throat-achingly dry, writer and wine expert Marc Millon serves up a delightfully fresh take on Italy's past, present, and future, best enjoyed with a glass in hand."--

Book Synopsis

"Compulsory reading" - The International Wine Review

A leading travel writer guides readers on a sumptuous journey through time and flavor to understand how and why wine transformed Italy . . .

"It's not often that a wine writer can engross and enthrall you with the history of a culture where wine merely plays its part along with many other players. Marc Millon does this absorbingly and impressively, telling the intriguing, exasperating, but ultimately optimistic story of Italy and its wines." --OZ CLARKE, author of The History of Wine in 100 Bottles

The world is enamored with Italy: its culture, art, food, and fashion, its beautiful landscapes, and famous cities--and, of course, its wine.

From the ancient Greeks to the Medici, and from fascism to feminism, Italy has always been entwined with wine. Through the millennia, it has been a celebratory libation at great events, given solace in times of despair, and fortified warriors before battle. Whether Possessioni Rosso, still made by descendants of Dante; Barolo "Lazzarito," from a wine estate founded by the son of Italy's first king; or Terre Rosse di Giabbascio, pressed from grapes grown on ex-Mafia land, the peninsula's wines provide an intoxicating insight into the ideas, events, and personalities that shaped Italian history.

If history can sometimes be throat-achingly dry, writer and wine expert Marc Millon serves up a delightfully fresh take on Italy's past, present, and future, best enjoyed with a glass in hand.

Review Quotes

"compulsory reading" --The International Wine Review

"Perfect for fans of travel, history, Italy, and wine, Italy in a Wineglass has it all." --Will Travel for Wine

"diverse, multilayered and attractive" --Forbes

Praise for the U.K. Edition:

Winner of the 2025 Guild of Food Writers Award, Drinks Writer Category

'The product of Marc Millon's lifelong passion for Italy, this fascinating account of the place of wine in Italian life over the centuries is an utterly absorbing read. Enjoy it with a good glass of vino to hand!' --Fiona Beckett, Guardian wine writer

'What a brilliant idea! Marc Millon takes us on a breezy, boozy tour through Italy's past, serving up bite-sized historical summaries with wine pairings to reveal how wine flavours history, and history flavours wine. Bring your corkscrew!' --Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses

'Marc Millon is a true Italian wine ambassador, and no one is better equipped to tell this story. His mouth-watering history had me drooling from the very first chapter! Packed full of personal observations and insights, it is essential reading for anyone interested in Italian wine, its past, present and future.' --Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International

'It is no negligible task to wander through the meanders of Italian culture, with which wine is so intertwined, and to grasp such an extensive history of radical transformations. Marc Millon juggles this venture with enviable mastery.' --Piero Mastroberardino, President of the Mastroberardino winery

'An intriguing and clever way to view Italy's history. Italy in a Wineglass is full of curious facts and historical diversions. Best of all it helps me to make sense of the wine aisle in my local supermarket here in Genoa.' -- Nicholas Walton, author of Genoa, 'La Superba'

'A delectable, Epicurean celebration of the profound role wine has played, and continues to play, in Italian society. Millon's history is hedonistic and thought-provoking in equal measure.' -- Jamie Mackay, author of The Invention of Sicily

'It's not often that a wine writer can engross and enthrall you with the history of a culture where wine merely plays its part along with many other players. Marc Millon does this absorbingly and impressively, telling the intriguing, exasperating, but ultimately optimistic story of Italy and its wines.' -- Oz Clarke, broadcaster, wine writer and author of The History of Wine in 100 Bottles and Wine by the Glass

'Millon is a great storyteller with decades of experience of Italy's wines, wineries and winemakers. Read it for an insider's view of the Italian winemaking tradition, and a richly entertaining account of the country's history seen through the bottom of a wine glass.' -- Helena Attlee, author of Lev's Violin: An Italian Adventure and The Land Where Lemons Grow

'Italy in a Wineglass gathers a multitude of small stories and anecdotes from which the enchantment of the richest land of vineyards arises. An excellent literary work, an innovative contribution to wine writing.' -- Sandro Boscaini, President of the Masi Agricola winery

About the Author

Marc Millon has been travelling, eating, drinking, learning and writing about wine, food and travel for nearly 40 years.

Marc is the author of 14 books and has been published on both sides of the Atlantic. Marc also writes for Food & Travel Magazine, and he formerly had a monthly wine column for many years in Italy Magazine. He is a certified Vinitaly International Academy Italian Wine Ambassador and regularly lectures and hosts gastronomic cultural tours in Italy, France and England with Martin Randall Travel. His regular weekly podcast, 'Wine, Food and Travel with Marc Millon, ' on the Italian Wine Podcast channel regularly attracting several thousands of listens per show. He has extensive contacts within the world of Italian wine and culture, as well as in the world of wine, food and travel.

When he is not on the road, he lives on the River Exe in Topsham, Devon, England.