Soave takes its name from the homonymous Venetian city, located in the territory that was invaded by King Theodoric and his Lombards in 568, a Germanic people of the Suebi, or Suaves, a term that was Italianized into Soavi (thus explaining the origin of the name). The territory they settled in was not unfamiliar with winemaking tradition, and to testify to this, there is a sixth-century epistle in which King Theodoric’s minister speaks of the wine from this area, describing it as “very smooth and full-bodied, endowed with jovial purity and incredible sweetness.”