Soave, Veneto later sold the castle to the Gritti noble family. In 1797-1805 the city was under French rule. In 1809 there were small fights between French and Austrian troops in the vicinity. Later Soave was included in the kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, and in 1866 became part of Italy. The Castle of Soave is a typical medieval military edifice, commanding the neighbourhood of the city from the Tenda Hill. It comprises a "mastio" (donjon) and three lines of walls forming three courts of different size. The outer line, with a gate and a draw bridge, is the most recent, built by the
Dessert wine the rafters. These wines include Vin Santo (into which almond biscuits ('cantucci') are traditionally dunked), Sciachetrà, Recioto di Soave (drunk with the local version of panettone) and the sweet red Recioto della Valpolicella (which stands up to chocolate better than most wine). Across the Alps, the French make 'straw wine' ("vin de paille") in the Jura, Rhone and Alsace, the Spanish start off making a raisin wine with Pedro Ximénez before fortifying it, the Cypriots have their ancient Commandaria and there have been recent experiments with the style in South Africa and the USA. Most wine laws require temperatures below