Tuscany's thousands of vineyards makes it one of Italy's largest wine-producing regions. (photo by rayced via flickr)

Every September, Italy moves from summer mode into wine mode, with la vendemmia, the annual grape harvest, during which time the country’s most beloved crop is gathered and turned into stunning red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines.

With nearly one million vineyards throughout the country with perfectly parallel rows of grapevines everywhere from the flat lands of Tuscany to the staggering cliffs of Cinque Terre, Italy is one of the largest and oldest wine producers in the world.  It may come as no surprise, then, that the country also leads the world in wine consumption.  So when you go, it’s only right to join the locals.

Italian wines are classified under four categories: Vino da Tavola (basic table wine made in Italy), Indicazione Geografica Tipica or IGT (simple wine made from a specific Italian region), Denominazione di Origine Controllata or DOC (wine made under government regulations to preserve a its unique identity), and Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita or DOCG (a small number of the highest quality wine produced under government regulations)—the most being produced in Tuscany and Piedmont.

With the grape harvest right around the corner, here is a region-by-region look at some of the most sought-after wines from around Italy.  Keep it handy during your vacation so you’ll know what kind of wine to sip in every city you visit.

Abruzzo DOCG: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane; DOC: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Controguerra, and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo

Basilicata DOCG: Aglianico del Vulture Superiore; DOC: Matera and Terre dell’Alta Val d’Agri

Calabria DOC: Bivongi, Ciró, Greco di Bianco, Pollino, and Verbicaro

Campania DOCG: Aglianico del Taburno, Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, Taurasi; DOC: Campi Flegrei, Capri, Cilento, Penisola Sorrentina, and Vesuvio

Emilia–Romagna DOCG: Albana di Romagna and Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto; DOC: Lambrusco, Sangiovese di Romagna, and Bosco Eliceo

Friuli–Venezia Giulia DOCG: Ramandolo, Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit, and Rosazzo; DOC: Friuli Aquileia, Collio, and Lison Pramaggiore

Lazio DOCG: Cesanese del Piglio and Frascati Superiore; DOC: Castelli Romani, Colli Albani, Montecompatri-Colonna, Est! Est! Est! di Montefiascone, Velletri among others.

Le Marche DOCG: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi; DOC: Bianchello del Metauro, Rosso Cònero, Lacrima di Morro d’Alba, and Falerio dei Colli Ascolani

Liguria DOC: Cinque Terre Schiacchetrà, Colli di Luni, Colline di Levanto, Golfo del Tigullio, Riviera Ligure di Ponente, Rossese di Dolceacqua, Val Polcevera, and Pornassio

Lombardy DOCG: Franciacorta, Moscato di Scanzo, and Valtellina Superiore; DOC: Garda Classico, Cellatica, and Botticino

Molise DOC: Biferno, Molise, and Pentro di Isernia

Piedmont DOCG: Asti, Barbaresco, Barbera d’Asti, Barbera del Monferrato Superiore, Barolo, Brachetto d’Acqui, Dolcetto di Diano d’Alba, Erbaluce di Caluso, Gavi, Gattinara, Ghemme, and Roero; DOC: Barbera d’Alba, Freisa d’Asti, and Freisa di Chieri

Puglia DOCG: Primitivo di Manduria; DOC: Aleatico di Puglia, Cacc’e Mmitte di Lucera, Salice Salentino, and Rosso di Cerignola

Sardinia DOCG: Vermentino di Gallura; DOC: Malvasia di Bosa, Moscato di Sorso-Sennori, Moscato di Cagliari, Vernaccia di Oristano, Cannonau di Sardegna, Nuragus di Cagliari, Carignano del Sulcis, and Mandrolisai

Sicily DOCG: Cerasuolo di Vittoria; DOC: Moscato di Noto Naturale, Moscato di Pantelleria, Moscato di Siracusa, Marsala, Malvasia delle Lipari, and Sambuca di Sicilia

Trentino-Alto Adige DOC: Alto Adige/Südtirol which has six subzones, Valdadige, Teroldego Rotaliano, Casteller, and Lago di Caldaro/Caldaro

Tuscany DOCG: Chianti, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Carmignano, Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano; DOC: Bolgheri, Vin Santo del Chianti, Bianco della Valdinievole, and Ansonica Costa dell’Argentario

Umbria DOCG: Sagrantino di Montefalco and Torgiano Rosso Riserva; DOC: Rosso Orvietano, Colli del Trasimeno, Assisi, and Colli Altotiberini

Val d’Aosta Blanc de Mordex et de la Salle, Petit Rouge de Enfer d’Arvier et Torrette, Petite Arvine; DOC: Val d’Aosta

Veneto DOCG: Amarone di Valpolicella, Recioto di Soave, Prosecco, and Bardolino;  DOC: Valpolicella, Lessini Durello, and Bianco di Custoza

Venice served as inspiration to Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, who spent a lot of time in the city--including quality time with the pigeons of St. Mark's Square. (photo via wikimedia)

Venice has been loved by millions of people over thousands of years.  From royalty to writers, starlets to sailors, everyday travelers to day-tripping dreamers.  It has been the backdrop of countless plays and the inspiration of endless stories.  And one of the most creative minds to call Venice his muse was Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway and Venice formed their bond while the writer was serving in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver on the Italian front, often retreating to Venice for refuge from the bloodshed of war.  Sound familiar?  Hence the plot of his classic story A Farewell to Arms.

After his service, Venice’s magical sights, fine cuisine, excellent wine, and beautiful women inspired Hemingway during several long stays in the City of Water.  When not writing in his Grand Canal-view room at Hotel Gritti Palace, Hemingway rubbed elbows with Venetian nobility, hunted duck in the Veneto valleys, and sipped on Montgomery martinis at Harry’s Bar, a tucked away socialite hotspot near St. Mark’s Square and one of the settings of Across the River and Into the Trees, partly written while in Venice.

That book, though met with horrible reviews, was inspired by Adriana Ivancich, a 19-year old Venetian aristocrat with whom the elder writer felt a deep kinship, despite his being married to another woman.  During his seven year platonic love affair with Ivancich, Hemingway wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Old Man and the Sea in a personal record of eight weeks.

The writer returned to Venice‘s Hotel Gritti Palace for several months in 1954 to recover from serious injuries he suffered during two plane crashes in Africa. Denying pain medication for his fractured skull and kidney and liver damage, Hemingway self-prescribed a remedy of local scampi and Valpolicella wine.  Last month, in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the writer’s death, Restaurant Club del Doge at Hotel Gritti Palace recreated the remedy with a special 4-course meal.

While Hemingway also held other northern Italian cities dear, including Verona, Cortina d’Ampezzo, and Caorle, it was Venice that truly drifted into the writer’s soul—as it somehow manages to do to every person who wanders its labyrinth of canals.

The autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige has plenty to keep you busy year round. (photo via wikimedia)

Italy’s northernmost region, Trentino-Altio Adige, sees polar opposite weather throughout the year—whipping winter storms dropping feet of snow over the Italian Alps, then glorious summer days with wildflowers swaying in the mountain breeze and the region’s numerous lakes, including Lake Garda, sparkling under the sun’s rays.

Bordered by Austria and Switzerland to the north, this autonomous region is one of the Italy’s most unique, with dual official languages (Italian and German) and a tennis match-like history, its governing rule bouncing back and forth between Germany, Austria, France, and Italy (or in some cases, the Roman Empire).

While Italians flock to the region in the winter for its top-notch skiing and in the summer for hiking and general relaxation, few other tourists venture so far north—despite being just a day trip away from Venice, Milan, and Verona.  Still, Trentino-Alto Adige thrives on tourism, with a higher concentration of overnight accommodations than anywhere else in Italy—in particular its resort towns, including Cortina d’Ampezzo, Madonna di Campiglio, and Ponte di Legno.

The region is about 30% mountains, a large chunk of which is the Dolomite range, and 50% deep forest, where deer, black bears, and various other wildlife roam amongst the region’s prized porcini mushrooms.  Also growing native to the area is asparagus, apples, corn for polenta, chestnuts, and grapes for wine, including Marzemino, Teroldego, Nosiola, and Vino Santo—often used for dipping biscotti.  And, of course, Trentino-Alto Adige is known for is strong and warmth-inducing grappa, usually infused with the wild berries found in the area.  Also among the regional cuisine, you’ll find dumplings and sauerkraut—a nod to its Germanic and Austrian roots.

Winter, spring, summer, or fall—Trentino-Alto Adige is a region for all seasons!