Thanks to Pliny the Elder, the famous Roman writer,  we can trace the Prosecco grape to the Pucinum wine of ancient Rome. Pucino was described as one of the great wines at the tables of esteemed Romans, and believed drinking it gave them longevity!

Pliny the Elder is also linked to the current exhibition at the British Museum ‘Life and Death: Pompeii and Herculaneum. These two cities in Southern Italy were destroyed by a volcanic explosion in AD79. We know this thanks to Pliny the Younger who wrote about the disaster and of the death of his elder uncle 3weat the scene.

The exhibition centres on the vast array of material that has been recovered from the site and focuses both on the Roman home and the people at the heart of the disaster. There are over 250 artifacts on display, some of which have never seen before outside Italy and these include many everyday objects from the home, including wine pitchers and amphorae. Who knows, some of these could have held Pucinum, an early predecessor to Follador Prosecco!

This exhibition is truly an amazing way to see Italy in the past, to see how similar some of our customs still are and how richly our heritage is engrained into our lives.