The origin of cultivation in Abruzzo is very ancient: the first evidence of the presence of this grape dates back to 1700. There are various versions regarding the history of its origin: according to one of these, it seems to have been imported by a traveler who brought the grape from Tuscany to Abruzzo in the 19th century; according to others, it seems to have been a grape originally cultivated in the Valle Peligna, in the province of L’Aquila. All these different versions are also mixed with legend: Polybius, a Greco-Roman historian, said that Hannibal made his soldiers drink Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and it seems that this cured them from scabies. Montepulciano is also mentioned in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”.