Cantinando Wine & Art

The tuff caves that become a festival

In Barile, in the heart of the Vulture region in the province of Potenza, there is a unique place: the Urban Park of the Cellars, called Sheshë in Arbëreshë. Hundreds of cavities dug into the tuff, once dwellings and today the beating heart of Vulture viticulture, overlook a path that every August transforms into the stage for Cantinando Wine & Art.

Wine, art and words

The festival intertwines literature, visual arts, live music, performances, gastronomy, and storytelling. The absolute protagonist is Aglianico del Vulture, the great red wine of the territory, tasted in the ancient caves along with typical dishes, cheeses, cured meats, artisanal sweets, and local beers. It is a celebration that tells the story of a community through what it produces and what it is.

A place of memory

The cellars of the Sheshë are not just a backdrop: it was here that Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed some of the most intense sequences of "The Gospel According to Matthew". In 2025, on the fiftieth anniversary of the director's death, the festival edition was dedicated to him, confirming Cantinando's vocation to unite wine, art, and memory.

Atmosphere and local context

Promoted with the support of the Municipality of Barile, the festival has free admission and is part of the rich wine tourism season of the Vulture, the land of Aglianico and, in 2026, the center of the Italian Wine City recognition. Cantinando is both a village festival and a cultural event, capable of enhancing the Arbëreshë heritage and the rupestrian landscape of the cellars.