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Altino (CH) – Sweet Pepper Festival
Friday 18 August 2023 - Saturday 19 August 2023

The famous Altino Sweet Pepper Festival will be held on August 18th and 19th. The red horn-shaped peppers are used in countless local dishes whether it is used as the star ingredient, or ground into a powder and used as a seasoning (in ventricina for example). The menu is extensive and always good!

At this time of year, you will see these peppers strung up and hung as garlands to be dried. The dried peppers will be used throughout the year whether in a powder form, re-hydrated, or used as-is. This pepper is one of 23 foods on the Slow Food Abruzzo map.
It’s thought that these horn-shaped peppers arrived with Serbian migrants. Locals mostly grind them and the final spice is reminiscent of paprika that is frequently used in Eastern Europe. In the local dialect, they are known as “ a cocce capammonte ” (upturned head), precisely because the pepper is curved upwards. If you have eaten ventricina you’ve eaten this gentle spice!

See Riley’s Abruzzo Directory Page and more of her suggestions on where to visit when based in Vasto!
