he word Carso, which is perhaps of Celtic origin, means "land of rock" and refers to the limestone that has been exposed, broken and torn back by the fissures that in certain senses make this corridor linking Trieste to the rest of Italy unique.The Carso offers two aspects, one bared to the light of day and the other subterranean with galleries, caverns, abysses, shafts and deep cracks.
That hidden character of the region is best observed at San Giovanni al Timavo. The visitor can admire the bubbling waters of the Timavo as they issue from the ground next to a church in the Carinthian style after passing through a 38-kilometer tunnel they have carved through the earth. The total length of the stream is only 95 kilometers.
The name also appears as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata and its two most important varieties of vines are the Malvasia Istriana and the Terrano.
The first type was most probably imported from Greece and it was already yielding good results as early as the 14th century. The Terrano, on the other hand, is believed to be native to Istria. In the district, the wine made from its grapes is referred to as "sangue del Carso," because of its extremely intense red color, which is one of its distinguishing features.
The Carso's climate is quite special, for extremely mild periods are followed by bouts of weather that are as hard and violent as the land itself. It is an upland, that is reached at Rupingrande by a steep climb, an altitude of 309 meters within a distance of only slightly more than 100 meters.
The upland is dominated by a strong wind known as the "Bora," which is the undisputed monarch of this rocky land. Blowing fiercely from the east, the Bora brings with it the cold of the steppes far away.
However, the climate is quite different where the land descends sharply toward the sea. Within only a few hundred meters, the landscape assumes a Mediterranean flavor with olives and pines replacing the typical vegetation of the upland. And that is the zone where Malvasia is produced.
