Ahaha, I know I know, I'd be happy to dig a village, anything before the Catholic's colonization  
And to visit museums!
I'm studying the survival of the "female cult" from Paleolithic to the Modern Age, and any fragment of history (for example, the three Norne) will help!
 
By the way, it's curious how beliefs and customs changes from a Nation to another.
For example, it's very common here in Italy to bring a wine bottle when visiting a friend. Or ice-cream.
And yes, even if it may sound like a cliché, we begin to drink early - I begun around my 10.  
But things are changing, and in the worst way.  
Thinking that giving wine to a child would be a bad thing, parents have stopped to do so. So kids go out and get drunk.
When I begun to drink wine or beer, there was always an adult near to me, and he made sure that all drank was half a glass or so. So did some of my peers.  
This way, I learned that alchool is part of everyday's life, but there's no reason to excess with it.
Nowaday, kids think it's great to go out and get drunk.
Oh, I got drunk a lot of times, eh! But I was 17 the first time.  
Drunk kids of today are 10, 11. Once a baby-girl died at the age of 12 for ethyl coma, and this's the worst way to approach to alchool!
 
Greetings,
Mauro.
 
 
PS:
Masi, I didn't know that!  
By the way, this is the Lambrusco Amabile I'm talking about:
 

 
Oh, and here's a funny picture I've found, it was 2006 and me and a friend had a concert. Suddenly we found this pig and decided to wake him with some Lambrusco  

 
Mauro.

Ive always had a sweet tooth myself.
To me, Wine shold always have a close resemblance to the fruit they came from.
Although i have drunk a feild mushroom wine and it was splendid!

Mauro, I couldn't agree more about kids and alcohol.  When my daughter Kate was growing up we always let her have a sip of wine or beer if she asked and when she was a little older a sensible sized glass of wine or a beer.  Though we were technically breaking the law, we didn't want alcohol to become "the forbidden fruit" and consequently be very desirable.  Beer and wine are food products to be used in moderation.  There's nothing mysterious or magical about them.   It's just fermented fruit or grain.  That was our message.  In that Kate isn't an alcoholic now, I guess it worked.

Well done, RM!
You know, here in Italy we've a centuries-old wine culture.
This, because we produce wine since the beginning of history, and it's (or it was) normal to have a bottle at lunch, another at dinner.
Not too long ago, let's say during the 50ies, workers still had breakfast with a cup of wine. Another at lunch and some more at dinner.
This because jobs were really hard - agriculture and fishing, and still done mostly by men, not machines. So a cup of wine was easily accepted by their body.
I've experienced that this summer: I never had breakfast, but this summer I had this very hard job at the harbor, and I noticed a significant loss of weight after some weeks. So I begun having breakfast, and after some more time I begun drinking a cup of wine in the morning, and a beer at lunch.
I swear they didn't affect my body in any manner!
Greetings,
Mauro.

Hallo John!
It's an amazing new you give me; I'd be glad to meet you!
I'm also going to Rome for a couple of days, to visit the most important Anthropological Museum we've in Italy; it'd be a pleasure to show it to you!
And to have a lunch toghether, of course!
I might send you my cell number via PM, let me know!
Greetings,
Mauro.

Alchool can be dangerous.  
It has a great social power, it also helps blood running in your vein, but it must be drink wisely!
Greetings,
Mauro.

Quote from Rat Man on Sep 19^th, 2011, 12:34pm:

Amen.