Soave historical timeline

Origins

The site lay on the Roman road east from Verona, and the name is generally traced to the Suebi settled here after the Lombard invasion -- Suavia -- rather than to the Italian word for gentle, which it happens to resemble.

Turning points

Soave was a fortified point on Verona's eastern frontier through the Middle Ages. The decisive moment came under Cansignorio della Scala, who in 1369 rebuilt the castle and threw the wall circuit around the whole town -- the structure that survives today.

Influential people

After the fall of the Scaligeri the town passed briefly to the Visconti and then, in 1405, to Venice, which held it until 1797. Venetian rule left the Gothic palaces on the main street and removed any further military purpose from the walls, which is largely why they were never demolished.

Cultural evolution

Wine was made here throughout, but Soave as a commercial name is a twentieth-century creation. The DOC came in 1968, among Italy's earliest, and the volume that followed made the name famous and then cheapened it.

Present-day significance

The response was to define the hills separately: Recioto di Soave was raised to DOCG in 1998 and Soave Superiore in 2001, and the Classico hillside zone is now where the town's reputation is rebuilt.