Accompaniments:
Toasted thinly sliced rustic Italian bread
Assorted brine-cured olives

Trim fennel stalks flush with bulb, discarding stalks, and remove core. With a mandoline or other hand-held manual slicer cut bulb into very thin slices and coarsely chop. In a large skillet cook fennel in oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes. In a dry small skillet toast pine nuts over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 5 minutes. Coarsely chop pine nuts and raisins. Pit and chop olives.

In a bowl, combine fennel, pine nuts, raisins, olives, salt and pepper to taste. Add ricotta and gently toss together.

Drain grapevine leaves and pat dry. Line bottom and side of a 9-inch pie plate with a layer of overlapping leaves, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Spread ricotta mixture over leaves and fold overhang in toward center. Use more leaves to cover exposed ricotta. Chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

Invert a platter over pie plate and invert leaf-covered spread onto platter. Peel back center leaves and serve spread chilled or at room temperature with toasts and olives.