Southern Italy

Since childhood Helene Stapinski heard lurid tales about her great-great-grandmother, Vita. In Southern Italy she was a loose woman who had murdered someone. Immigrating to America with three children, she lost one along the way. Helene's youthful obsession with Vita deepened as she grew up, eventually propelling the journalist to Italy, where, with her own children in tow, she pursued the story, determined to set the record straight.

Want to know more about Italian wines? Want to impress your friends and family with quirky facts? Want to discover new, exciting, passionate, innovative, and authentic wine makers, from vegan to organic? With its blazing sunshine, fascinating wine-making history, innumerable native grape varieties, and diverse, often volcanic soils, Southern Italy is currently one of the most exciting parts of the world for wine. The Ancient Greeks, called it Oenotria, meaning "the land of wine".