Local Wine - Cheap and Cheerful
Gas prices might keep on rising, but at the pump of a cantina sociale (communally owned wine press and storage facility), you will really get your euro's worth of energy: liters of hearty red or white local wine.
A visit to one of the many local cantine sociali will not only save you money but you will be sure to meet some interesting characters. Bring your own empty bottles, better if they are 5 liter size. Costs vary but usually the sfuso, literally "loose" or unbottled, simple table wine can be purchased for about l euro per liter . . . cheaper than gas for the car! (Bottled wine is also available, but more "expensive" . . E.1.50 per bottle!)
North of Rome we recommend the cantine sociali at Tarquinia, Montefiascone and Vignanello, where you can buy local wine directly from the producers.
Several towns (Vignanello and Montefiascone are famous) also hold wine festivals during August. In Pianoscarano, a neighborhood of Viterbo for example, the 13th century fountain flows with free wine on the second Sunday of October and the local lads compete in a race pushing wine casks uphill.