Ancient Greece

If wine was Dionysus, the god of euphoria, on the other side the toast is a reasoned and controlled event. It was the protagonist of many poems: in the toasts of lyric poets, as Teognide, Anacreonte, Senofane, there's "aretè" (virtue), moderation, civilization and politic passion.

Terrible, but astute, the toast that Ulysses drank to Polyphemus, after he had eaten one of his companions, but, then, he used wine to kill the Cyclops; instead the toast to Alcinoo, king of Feaci, is full of hope to come back home.
Alceo, another lyric poet, requested to drink a toast to Marsilio, who was his enemy. On the other side, a deep grief is inside the toast which Saffo drunk to bride and bridegroom's joy, an happiness that she will never feel.

Rome
Bacchus and wine in Rome were a symbol of irrationality and of enjoyment of life: a way to forget time that runs away and the problems of life.
Very well known the toast of Orazio, the poet who request to drink a toast to the life, to present time that flies away, the famous "Carpe Diem". Timalcione, a character of Petronio's "Satyricon", one of the first novel of history, seems to say the same thing, but, on the contrary, he faces this aspect of life with serenity. Famous also Didone's toast, in "Eneide" of Virgilio, where it's possible to understand the misfortune of the queen, abandoned by Enea.
Instead, the poets Tibullo and Properzio would like to drink to stop their love pains: wine is like a medicine against tragic love consequences.

Middle Age In Middle Age the wine, paradoxically, was considered again an holy drink: the wine was reserved to priests during the Mass, because it represented Christ's blood. The toasts are absent in vulgar poetry of origin,Provençal, French

and Italian, and also in "Stilnovo" poetry. We can find it in goliardic poetry, between 1100 and 1230. Drinking with companions is an important aspect of goliardic life: the tavern is the place where teachers and students, after school, met themselves, drank and sang love, satirical, passion songs, sometimes also against clergy, sometimes joyful and Bacchic songs.

Humanism and Renaissance
The toast come back in the famous "Galateo" (Book of Etiquette) of Mons. Giovanni della Casa, who speak about good manners. However, the most famous toast is that one of the "Song of Bacchus and Arianna", written by Lorenzo il Magnifico. This is a clear invitation to enjoy the life, that run away, fast like the rhythm of this beautiful ballad.

XVII - XVIII centuries
Shakespeare is really the protagonist of that period: even if we don't know very much about his life, he seemed to not love feast and taverns. However, wine has often an important position in many Shakespeare's works. The toast is important also in the works of two great Italian writers, Alfieri and Parini. In Parini's verses the toast is still a symbol of life that runs away (like in classic period), beautifulness that fades, then resignation and melancholy, and the importance of friendship.

XVIX and XX centuries
Three are the toasts in the novel "Promessi Sposi" written by Manzoni: the first one between Frà Cristofono and Don Rodrigo, the second one is that one of Renzo at the tavern; the third one on the carriages of "monatti", who removed corpses during plague. These toasts give a painting of society of XVII cent., the period when the history is placed.
Very well known the toast inside Verdi's opera, "La Traviata", the famous "Libiam ne' lieti calici/che la bellezza infiora/ E la fuggevol ora s'inebri a volutta'/", sung by Alfredo and all the chorus.
After the toast connected with love of country, like in Foscolo's poetry, in the XX cent. all the wars have changed the values and, then, the subjects of poetry. So, the toast in Pascoli, who is an exponent of Italian style of Decadent poetry, is really a return to classic matters of moderation, but the meaning is that there're no cures against pain.