lenaea

Updated: May 27, 2025

It must not be imagined that the scene of Alma Tadema's 'Roman Vintage, or what we fondly picture to our fancy of the Athenian Lenaea, is repeated in the streets of Crema. This modern treading of the wine-press is a very prosaic affair. The town reeks with a sour smell of old casks and crushed grape-skins, and the men and women at work bear no resemblance whatever to Bacchus and his crew.

John Addington Symonds - Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series