Borghi Ospitali Festival

The Borghi Ospitali Festival

The Borghi Ospitali Festival is the annual travelling event that brings together small towns in the province of Chieti belonging to the Borghi Ospitali Association, a network grouping together Abruzzese centres with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants committed to the recovery and tourism promotion of their villages and historic centres. The festival changes location every year, rotating among member municipalities: after Miglianico (2022), Paglieta (2023), and Frisa (2024), the Municipality of Archi hosted the fourth edition in 2025.

Archi, a hospitable village in Abruzzo

Nestled among the hills of the middle Sangro valley, in the province of Chieti (Abruzzo), Archi is a village with a compact historic centre, the ideal setting for a day of festivities spread across squares, churches, and alleyways. For the 2025 edition, the town transformed, as the mayor noted, into the "beating heart of a day dedicated to the rediscovery of the territories," with organization managed by the Borghi Ospitali Association together with the Municipality and the Pro Loco.

Flavours and traditions of the villages

The heart of the event is the food and wine trail: stands from participating municipalities offer traditional Abruzzese peasant dishes. Among the specialties featured in the Archi edition were pallotte cace e ove (cheese and egg balls), pecora alla callara (shepherd-style mutton), cillitte, the campanella civitellese, and spaghetti with sweet peppers and caciocavallo cheese, accompanied by local wines, honey, and craft beer from the area.

Culture, folklore, and conferences

Alongside gastronomy, the festival weaves together culture and entertainment: book presentations, photographic and ethnographic exhibitions, band performances, and folk choirs, as well as historical re-enactments like that of the "Turchi e Cristiani" group from Tollo. A distinctive feature of the event is the conferences dedicated to the role of small villages as engines of sustainable development and the contribution of food and wine products to the growth of inland areas.

A community project

More than just a simple festival, the Borghi Ospitali Festival is a networking project: every year, a different municipality takes the lead and hosts administrators, tourism operators, scholars, and citizens from the other participating villages. The goal is to relaunch the identity and attractiveness of the smaller centres of the Abruzzese hinterland, countering depopulation and fostering slow, authentic tourism.