How to do hot spiced apple cider without apple cider? When I lived in the United States, I developed an addiction to hot apple cider. I relied on powder mixes (Alpine, Mott's and so on) - just adding hot water to the content of a package...

Now I'm back to Italy, and I need to make the hot spiced apple cider myself.

The first problem, in Italy is difficult to find apple cider. I've found only French cider from Brittany or Normandy, which is the fermented alcoholic drink.

Questions:


which version of apple cider should I ideally use?
can I use the French cider instead?
can I just use non-alcoholic apple juice instead of the cider?




Edit: it seems that a source of misunderstanding is the word cider, that may indicate different drinks. In the USA it may be a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice, or an unfiltered apple juice. Which one should be used to make hot spiced apple cider?
According to Wikipedia, apple cider (US usage) is different from apple juice (US usage) in that:


  "Apple juice and apple cider are both fruit beverages made from apples, but there is a 
  difference between the two. Fresh cider is raw apple juice that has
  not undergone a filtration process to remove coarse particles of pulp
  or sediment. Apple juice is juice that has been filtered to remove
  solids and pasteurized so that it will stay fresh longer.


Or, in translation, "apple cider" is apple juice; "apple juice" is filtered apple juice.

So in Italy you should look for brands of apple juice with words like "with bits" or "unfiltered" on the label.