Cantine Aperte San Martino

A festival that reopens the village doors

Cantine Aperte San Martino is the autumn event that, every November, brings the hamlet of San Martino to life in the municipality of Petrella Salto (Rieti province, Lazio). For one evening, the cellars in the historic center—usually closed and used as storage—are cleaned, lit up, and transformed into tasting points. Visitors don't sit at a single table: they walk, enter, exit, and wander through the stone alleys, tasting something at every stop. It is this roaming format, more than any single dish, that makes the event so recognizable throughout the Rieti province.

The food and wine trail

The common thread is new wine, traditionally celebrated in conjunction with the feast of Saint Martin. In the cellars, you will find products from the Rieti mountains, prepared by hand according to local recipes:

• Local cheeses and cured meats, platters, and bruschetta;
• Legume soups and polenta, warm autumn comfort food;
• Homemade desserts and seasonal roasted chestnuts;
• New wine and local wines to accompany every stop.

Portions are served while supplies last: those who arrive at the opening have the widest choice, but the festival continues until late in the evening.

Old-time crafts

Alongside the tastings, the trail hosts ancient artisan workshops, reconstructed in the village spaces to evoke the trades that marked daily life in the mountains: the blacksmith, the carpenter, the shepherd, knitting, and weaving. It is the local performers, often descendants of those very families, who bring the scenes to life. This ethnographic aspect is the hallmark of the event and makes it more of a community re-enactment than a simple food festival.

Music and atmosphere

The evening is enlivened by roaming entertainment groups that move along the route: the organetto, folk songs, and traditional central Italian music accompany visitors as they move from one cellar to the next. With warm lights in the stone arches and the crisp November chill, the atmosphere is that unique, evocative feeling of Apennine villages coming back to life for one night.

Where it takes place: San Martino and Lake Salto

Petrella Salto is located in the Cicolano area, the mountainous region that overlooks the upper Salto valley towards Mount Terminillo and the border with Abruzzo. The municipal territory is dotted with scattered hamlets and dominated by Lake Salto, an artificial reservoir that attracts swimmers and canoeists in summer and offers quiet, scenic views in autumn. The village is also one of the stops on the Cammino di Francesco, the pilgrimage route that crosses the Rieti Holy Valley. Those arriving for the festival will find a natural and spiritual setting that is worth the trip in itself.

Services and hospitality

The organization, managed by the Associazione Civica Pro San Martino, provides a free shuttle service every year from the parking lots below to the start of the route, as the village's narrow streets do not allow car traffic. A dedicated camper area is also available. In case of bad weather, the event is postponed to the following weekend: a necessary precaution, given that most of the route takes place outdoors.

Why it's worth visiting

Cantine Aperte San Martino doesn't have big stages or famous headliners: its strength is its human scale. It is one of the best opportunities in inland Lazio to understand how people lived in a mountain village before depopulation, with the added advantage of doing so with a glass of new wine in hand. For those visiting the province of Rieti in autumn, amidst chestnuts, new olive oil, and truffles, it is a stop that fits naturally into a food and wine weekend.