by Susan Nelson
The year is 115 AD, with Imperial Rome at the height of its power. The Commissatio is just beginning. Banquets were commonly hosted by an upper class couple in their villa, with several guests invited to partake of delectable feasting and conversation.
Let me explain the commissatio as a cheerful game of toasts, after the banquet, which goes on late into the evening with almost everyone .......drunk! There is a whole cast of wines available, from cheap to vile, which would come from Vatican Hill or Marseille. But, a high-class commissatio offered the most excellent wine to be had; Falerno, wine of the gods, produced in northern Campania, the region of Naples.
