Cabernet and Local Wines Festival

A midsummer night among the cellars of Gallinaro

In the heart of the Valle di Comino, at the eastern edge of the Frosinone province, the town of Gallinaro celebrates its most iconic product every year with the Cabernet and Local Wines Festival. The event is traditionally held on August 13th, the eve of Ferragosto, when this small village in southern Lazio welcomes thousands of visitors from across the Ciociaria region and beyond.

The event is one of the longest-running in the area: in 2025, it reached the milestone of its thirtieth edition, cementing its place as a staple of the Valle di Comino summer calendar.

Atina DOC Cabernet, an oenological exception

The absolute star is the Atina DOC Cabernet, a wine that represents a true anomaly in the Italian wine landscape. Bordeaux grape varieties were introduced to this valley in the late 19th century and found a particularly favorable terroir, characterized by alluvial soils and significant temperature fluctuations between the Mainarde massif and the Ernici Mountains. The result is a structured and elegant red, now protected by the Atina Cabernet DOP Consortium, which participates in the festival by showcasing its labels.

Alongside the Cabernet, there is also room for other local wines produced by local families, often the result of small-scale domestic winemaking passed down through generations: this is the trait that makes the festival different from a simple wine fair.

Open cellars, the heart of the celebration

The formula that has ensured the event's success is the free opening of about thirty private cellars in the historic center. Visitors do not just stand in front of a booth; they walk along stone alleys, enter cellars carved beneath homes, and are welcomed by the owners, who offer their wine along with platters of cured meats, cheeses, and local peasant cuisine.

• Tastings of Atina DOC Cabernet and wines from family cellars
• Food stalls with traditional Ciociaria dishes and more contemporary offerings
• Live music and DJ sets scattered throughout the village squares
• Folk groups, songs, and dances from the Lazio popular tradition
• Free admission to the event

A village to discover

Gallinaro has just over a thousand inhabitants and preserves a compact medieval layout, dominated by the remains of the castle and the parish church. The town is also known as a pilgrimage destination, but it is on August evenings that it shows its most festive side, when the lighting of the narrow streets and the scent of new wine turn the entire historic center into a continuous tasting trail.

The festival is part of a particularly lively summer in Gallinaro, organized by the Pro Loco Gallinaro APS together with the Municipality and the Organizing Committee, which offers various musical and traditional events throughout August.

Why it's worth the trip

For those visiting Lazio in summer, the Cabernet Festival offers an experience that is hard to replicate: not an event built for tourism, but a village festival where private hospitality becomes the heart of the celebration. The visitor literally enters the homes of the Gallinaro residents, and this direct contact with the producing families remains the strongest memory of the evening, along with the quality of a wine still little known outside regional borders.