A beautiful location to celebrate San Martino is the ‘I Borghi più Belli d’Italia’ village of Pietracamela sits under Prati di Tivo. The village’s excellent restaurants have come together to create a polenta feast, wine and roasted chestnuts for just €10.
The sweet town of Barisciano celebrates Santa Caterina by hosting a bustling fair. Today in many countries Caterina is more commonly known today by the firework named in honour of her rather unpleasant death on a wheel, but local Gran Sasso farmers used to believe the milk that flowed from her neck nourished and protected their fields!
Abbateggio celebrates San Martino with its Bacchanalia festa, when members of the community open their cellars of this sweet town for delicious food and Vino Novello served by local wineries.
Arielli’s Vino Novello and chestnut sagra is an opportunity to try sparkly, fruity and fresh new wines from local wineries paired with local dishes and chestnuts to toast Autumn
A must-visit for all polenta lovers is Bellante’s polenta sagra! Pick from the traditional Abruzzese polenta served on a board with a sugo of sausage and pork belly or polenta with mushrooms, sausage and pancetta.
Italy officially uncorks its Vino Novello (‘New Wine’ – think Beaujolais but Italian style) on the 11th of November, which is coincidentally the ‘festa di St. Martino’
Roccamontepiano is Abruzzo’s Vino Cotto capital (Cooked Wine) and celebrates this elixir with tastings and demonstrations of how it is made, local dishes a market and dance and music! For those that don’t know about this liqueur, Montepulciano grapes are simmered and then aged in oak caskets. Traditionally, it was the drink used to wet a baby’s head and given as part of the dowry!
Who doesn’t love the opportunity to sit back and enjoy roast chestnuts with mulled wine in a beautiful town! Celenza Sul Trigno’s autumn festival is back and comes recommended.
The Tuber Magnatum white truffle festival is located high in the Gran Sasso Mountains in the small medieval town of Poggio Umbricchio. It was once part of the world’s smallest republic Senarica and was aligned to Venice.
Festa del Ringraziamento (Thanksgiving) returns to Introdacqua. It celebrates the ancient custom that saw farmers and artisans celebrating the success and the blessing of their harvests over the past year. Since 2006, the organisers of this event, Futura Association have converted this tradition into wonderful tastings of zero-kilometre products from local producers and artisans