Turning water into wine?
Sounds like most wine lovers dream.
The Marino wine festival or the Sagra dell'Uva Marino makes that happen. A short train ride away from Rome, the medieval town of Marino is one of the 13 towns of the wine-producing Castelli Romani, situated 21 kilometres south of Rome.
Historically, Marino was a summer resort for Roman emperors who built luxurious villas there and the area has been famous for its wine since that time.
The event, typically held on the first Sunday of October, is one of the oldest 'Sagra dell'Uva' and certainly one of the most famous. The festival commemorates the return of Admiral Marcantonio Colonna to his home in Marino after his victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in October 1571. The town of Marino sent 260 sailors to the battle, the sagra is celebrated on the first Sunday of October to give thanks for their safe return. In 1925 the marinese poet Leone Ciprelli, aware of dying traditions, had the idea of holding a grape festival to celebrate this event and has grown in fame and extravagance.
The annual grape festival attracts over 100,000 people that crowd its ancient cobbled streets. The usually quiet streets are elaborately decorated on the festival day, balconies are decorated with flowers, statues that guard the main fountains in the town are adorned with kilos of grapes which hang from their mouths and cheekily dangle over their private parts.
In the morning there is a religious procession to thank the Madonna del SS. Rosario.
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The event includes a procession, music and period costumes.
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Then, in the afternoon, there is a re-enactment of the return of Marcantonio Colonna, about 500 people dressed in period costume old and young parading proudly down the streets.
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| A friend of mine at this years festival was delighted to be dragged into the parade |
The highlight of the festival occurs at around 5 pm, when the moment everyone has been waiting for arrives, there is a blessing and then the main fountain of the town, the 'Fountain of the Four Moors' starts flowing with golden white wine which is distributed freely amongst the crowd.
And flow it does...around 5,000 litres of wine gushes out the fountain for one hour! As the wine is distributed freely, it's a good idea to take some plastic cups with you!
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| Grapes are also given out by locals - my friend Anna Maria, happy with her grapes |
Something I do find hilarious is that in 2008, at the festival, as the crown eagerly waited with their glasses to taste the wine about to gush from the fountain, the eagerly awaited wine was actually water, as due to bad plumbing, the wine was directed to the homes of the people living around the square who got the wine coming out of their taps!
The festival also has local producers selling their wines for around 1 euro a glass. There are also food stands selling porchetta, hot spit fire roasted pork, stuffed into white bread traditional in the Castelli Romani area, fritti (fried snack foods) such as olive ascolane and mozzarelline and various sweet treats, all substantial enough to keep you going throughout the day or soak up the guaranteed wine intake.
If you are going to be in the Rome area on the first Sunday in October, the festival is a fun and free day of entertainment and is an opportunity to visit a real italian ‘sagra’ and of course taste free of charge, some wine from the Castelli region. Just a word of warning, whilst tourists are very welcome, it isn't aimed just for tourists, but for locals and visitors alike. Not unlike any town city centre in England on a Saturday night, when wine flows freely, the crowd can get a little rowdy and boisterous. This would probably be an ideal time to hop on the train back to Rome. The last train is around ten in the evening. If too many wines have been consumed, thankfully, the walk is a downhill one directly to the station, where you will find other suitably wine filled revellers, hanging out of the packed train windows.
If you can't make the main festival then the younger, sister 'Sagra della Ciambella al Mosto' is held on the following Sunday. A ciambella al mosto is a local bun soaked in and cooked with the skins and left overs from the grape pressing.
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| photo credit - www.photocastelli.it |
Trains leave from Roma Termini station - Marino and the journey takes around 40 minutes. Tickets cost - 2.10 each way. Be warned the train gets extremely packed and a little uncomfortable.
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| Some festival goers deciding that the train luggage compartments would be a better option |
Ciao for now
Zoe
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