Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1910 — ITALIAN CLIFF VINEYARDS. [ARTICLE]

ITALIAN CLIFF VINEYARDS.

Grapes Gronlns In Places Benched Only by Ropes and Ladders. “The steepest vineyards in Europe, if not in all the world, are situated on the northwest coast of Italy,” a

writer in the American Wine Press says. “I have seen grapevines growing in many countries and in many queer places, but nowhere have I seen vineyards located like those on the seaeoast between Levanto and Spezzia. “The vines in some places alppg (hq Rhine grow on very steep hillsides, but nothing to compare with those growing on the lofty Italian cliffs. You can now and then get a good glimpse of these vineyards while riding in the train from Genoa to Pisa, which follows the coast almost all the way. The trouble is that tunnels succeed each other in rapid succession, thus continually breaking off the views of the sea and of the rocky coast. “After leaving Levanto, a small town situated on a semicircular bay, and going through a long tunnel, you soon come to what are called the villages of the Cinque Terre. Each Village is separated from the other by lofty cliffs. The vines cover the face of these bold cliffs, which are almost perpendicular. Mb such places can be reached only by ladders or ropes the difficulty of working the vineyard and of gathering the crop of grapes can easily be imagined. Almost -as striking are those places where the vines are trained upon wire across gorges made by the streams which cut the rocky coast. This whole region is probably unique in its viticulture. Ohly men like the Italian peasant farmers, who love the vine and Its luscious fruit, would plant vineyards on the face of sheer cliffs.”