Ancient Rome: Brindiamo !!!!
Ancient Rome: Brindiamo !!!!
Rarely, we will find a song more popular in Italy. Used during the banquet of every wedding, feast or gathering together of friends. “Libiamoci” di Verdi, but better know as”Brindiamoci”, Let’s drink together. But why Italians are using the expression “Let’s have a Brindisi” if they want to toast? and then they lift their glasses and saying “cin cin !”
The Roman road, which starts in Rome in the direction of Napoli, crossing the mountain chain of the Apennines for finishing in the heal of Italy in Puglia. At the very beginning of the road, in the Parco della Caffarella(at a few yards from my house) there is a little, very well preserved temple of the ancient roman god Rediculus. No, no !, not ridiculous!, but rediculous. The name of the god tells you his function. This divinity was probably one of Rome's lares, a protector-god of the city. He is said to have appeared to Hannibal as he was camped outside Rome in 211 B.C., urging him to return (redire) to Carthage. The Roman historian Sextus Festus' account of the incident reports that Hannibal, nearing the city, saw apparitions in the air, filling him with dread and induced him to return(redire) southward immediately:
Rediculi fanum extra portam Capenam fuit, quia accedens ad Urbem Hannibal ex eo loco redierit quibusdam perterritus visis.[1]
The [temple] of Rediculus was [outside] the Porta Capena; it was so called because Hannibal, when on the march from Capua, turned back at that spot, being alarmed at certain portentous visions.
A place on the Appian road, near the second mile-stone from the city, was called Campus Rediculi (Plin. H. N. xliii. 60. § 122 ; Propert. iii. 3, 11). In a fragment of Varro (ap. Non. p. 47), the god calls himself Tutanus, i. e., the god who keeps safe.
Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 - Galleria Borghese- Rome
This pagan tradition lives on until today in the Roman Catholic Church. When the Pope dies, in his coffin they would place one of each of the coins minted during his reign.
A brindisi with Champagne?
Celebrating something and having a toast and a “Brindisi” together brings me to the next ...
But I always questioned myself in which kind of glass you would drink Champagne? Is it the “coppa” or the “flute”.
And than, one after the other happened .....
In Antwerp were a lot of exhibitions 350 years after the famous flemish painter Pieter Pauwel Rubens died in 1640. During that year I read the letters of Rubens. Surprisingly, many were written in Italian, so much he loved that culture. But two years before his dead, he wrote a letter in flemish to his dear friend Lucas Fayd’herbe. But now, so may years later, I couldn’t find that letter anymore. Therefore, I give special thanks to Dott.ssa Leen Huet who retrieved this letter for me !
P. P. RUBENS A Mr LUCAS FAYD'HERBE
Lieve wel beminde M. Lucas,
Ick hope dat u desen noch sal tot Antwerpen vinden, want ick grootelijcken van noode hebbe een panned daer cl rij troniën op staen, soo groot als het leven, van mijn handt; te wetene : eenen grammen soldaet met een swarte mutse op 't hooft, ende een crijtende manstronie ende eenen lacher. Gij suit mij groote vriendschappe doen, met dit selvige panned terstont over te senden, oft, ist ghij ghereet sijt om selver te comen, mede te brenghen. Ende het sal goet sijn dat men daer een of twee nieuwe panneelen op bint, omdat het niet en soude quetsen onderweghen oft ghesien worden. Ons duncke, vriendt, dat wij niet en vernemen van de flessen met vin d'Ay, want den ghenen die wij mede droeghen is al wt.
Waer mede UB. wenschende ghesontheyt, ende aen Lijntken ende Susanna dierghelijcx, blijve ick wt ganscher harten,
Mr Lucas UE. dienstwillighen vriendt Pieïro Pauolo Rubens
Wt Steen den 17 Augusty Anno 1638.
Publié par F. Jos van Den Branden, Geschiedenis der Anhverpsche Schilder school, page 576, d'après la copie de J. B. van der Straelen, qui lui-même l'avait transcrïte de l'autographe appartenant de son vivant a Louis-Joseph Fayd'herbe, prêtre a Malines, descendant de Luc Fayd'herbe.
In this letter he tells his friend that he is sorry that on his return from France, he couldn’t find the Vin d’Ay, but that, nonetheless, he has some quite remarkable bottles with him. I got intrigued by this wine of Ay.
The proverb is presented by a group of monkeys, dressed like princes of the beginning of the 17th century, who are eating, drinking and playing the dies, just like princes would do... But that does not change the fact that they are monkeys, and even acting like princes, they will always remain monkeys. Underneath the owl is written “Bon vin d’Ay”, and we can see how the monkey is holding up a champagne-flute glass .... but with red wine ????
The wine Rubens was looking for on his way back of France.
Now, Yes, I got intrigued.
What is it with that wine of Ay, and where is it coming from? It happened to be a wine of the Champagne region. Pliny the Elder praises the champagne drink with quote “wines of Ay”. In 92, Domitian ordered the uprooting of vines Champagne. This protectionist measure is lifted by Probus in 280.
Benedictine abbeys of the region played an important role in the expansion of the vine, such as abbeys of Saint Basle and Hautvillers founded in the 7th century. Verzy in the Montagne de Reims, is a wine-growing town in the year 700. During the Middle Ages, the vineyard is gaining notoriety thanks to the famous fairs of Champagne, but until the Renaissance it mainly provides quiet reds.
The sparkling wines were highly appreciated by various sovereigns, Francis (whose house Ivernel in Ay, still holds a press), Charles V, the Pope Urban II and Leo X. Henri IV, who owned a press still visible near the church of Saint Brice, particularly liked the title "Sir Ay." And the Medici popes owned the vineyards of Ay. They didn’t lost their commercial interest by becoming the spiritual leaders of Christianity. They started to export there vin d’Ay to all the royal courts of Europe: the Tsar dronk it, the king of England ...
Everybody who wanted to show off that he was important and trendy had Vin d’Ay in his cellar for special occasions.
And here we see monkeys, dressed like kings, drinking Vin d’Ay. made in the champagne region, in flutes like kings .... but nonetheless, they will always remain monkeys, even if they adopt the lifestyle of the kings. Today, the Vin d’Ay still exists, and only in exceptional good years, they are producing from their grapes not the classical champagne, but an excellent red wine ..... bottled with a champagne-cork. Being produced only in small quantities, it became over the years a nice collecting-item.
So lets say: Brindiamoci and cin cin on your health !!!!
(Thanks to my friend Sharon Howard, who inspired me with her questions to write this article...)