Strabo Geography 5.1.12

[12] The fertility of this country is proved by its population, the size of its cities, and its wealth, in all of which the Romans of this country surpass the rest of Italy. The cultivated land produces fruits in abundance and of every kind, and the woods contain such abundance of mast, that Rome is principally supplied from the swine fed there. Being well supplied with water, millet grows there in perfection. This affords the greatest security against famine, inasmuch as millet resists any inclemency of the atmosphere, and never fails, even when there is scarcity of other kinds of grain. Their pitch-works are amazing, and their casks give evidence of the abundance of wine: these are made of wood, and are larger than houses, and the great supply of pitch allows them to be sold cheap. The soft wool and by far the best is produced in the country round Mutina ¹ and the river Panaro; ² while the coarse wool, which forms the main article of clothing amongst the slaves in Italy, is produced in Liguria and the country of the Symbri. There is a middling kind grown about Patavium, ³ of which the finer carpets, gausapi, ⁴ and every thing else of the same sort, whether with the wool on one or on both sides, are made. The mines are not worked now so diligently, because not equally profitable with those of Transalpine Keltica and Iberia; but formerly they must have been, since there were gold-diggings even in Vercelli, near to Ictimuli, ⁵ both which villages are near to Placentia. ⁶ Here we finish our description of the first part of Italy, and pass on to the second.