Wine flows from water faucets in Italian village

Castelvetro di Modena, Italy, Mar 6, 2020 / 08:05 am

As Italy weathers the spread of coronavirus, residents of one village appeared to witness their own version of the miracle at the Wedding at Cana.

Turning on their faucets Wednesday morning, several Italians discovered their water had been changed to wine -- specifically, the sparkling red wine Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC.

"I was washing stuff in the kitchen. I turned off the faucet. I turned it on again, and instead of water I saw wine: I said 'cheers' and [my father] and I made a toast," 56-year-old Maurizio Volpi said.

Volpi was one of several residents living close to the Settecani Cantina, a wine cellar on the outskirts of Castelvetro di Modena, who found their water momentarily replaced by the fermented grape juice March 4.

In fact, the apparent miracle was the result of a broken valve.

The manager of the wine cellar told Italian news agency AGI that it took about an hour to repair the valve, which was connected to the water system for cleaning the wine bottles in the bottling plant.

The damaged valve caused the red wine to back up into the water main. "In an hour everything went back to normal," Fabrizio Amorotti said.

"Some loyal customers from the area called us to notify us and share that they were bottling [the wine]!" he added.

Volpi said his father wanted to try to catch the wine from the faucet in a bottle as well, "but I said that I buy the wine already bottled."

"It is clear there was a problem, no cellar exchanges water for wine," Volpi continued. "Perhaps it could have been given to the parish priest for Mass."

The hamlet of Settecani is known for its production of the red sparkling wine. The Settecani Cantina has been in operation since 1923.

The City of Castelvetro di Modena confirmed on Facebook they had been notified of the problem and it had been resolved, saying it "was a loss of consumable liquid (wine) that was not harmful to the body and free of both hygiene and health risks."

"We apologize for the inconvenience which, in reality, many have much appreciated," the city wrote.