Open Cellars in Morro d'Alba

Cantine Aperte, the Italian enotourism festival

Cantine Aperte is the event that pioneered enotourism in Italy: conceived in 1993 in Montalcino by the Movimento Turismo del Vino, every year on the last Sunday of May (with the preceding Saturday), it invites thousands of enthusiasts to cross the gates of wineries. In Morro d'Alba, a small municipality in the province of Ancona in the heart of the Castelli di Jesi, the event takes on a unique flavor thanks to the wine that bears the town's name.

The village of Lacrima

Morro d'Alba is a unique walled village in the Marche region: along its entire perimeter runs La Scarpa, a covered walkway about 300 meters long punctuated by towers, a testament to its medieval past. Here, the Lacrima grape has been cultivated for centuries, a native variety with very thin skin that, when ripe, lets small drops (the "tears") fall, from which it gets its name. Recognized as Lacrima di Morro d'Alba DOC in 1985, it is a red wine intensely fragrant with notes of rose, violet, and red fruits, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary of the designation in 2025.

The featured wineries

During Cantine Aperte, the main wineries of the area, representative of the Lacrima grape and the Morro d'Alba winemaking tradition, participate:

• Marotti Campi — historic winery on Via Sant'Amico, among the most renowned for Lacrima
• Stefano Mancinelli — on Via Roma, in the heart of the village
• Lucchetti — on Via Santa Maria del Fiore
• Vicari, Ronconi, Tenuta Di Frà, and Podere Vito Cardinali

Each winery offers guided tours, wine tastings, and often pairings with local typical products. The common thread of each edition is direct contact between the producer and the wine tourist, who can learn about the work in the vineyard and cellar and taste the wine in the very place where it is born.

A weekend among vineyards and hills

Cantine Aperte in Morro d'Alba is not just about tasting: it's an opportunity to discover a landscape of cultivated hills a short distance from the Adriatic Sea, walk along the ramparts of La Scarpa, and experience the authentic atmosphere of a Marche village. The event involves dozens of wineries throughout the Marche region each year, with the province of Ancona being among the most represented, confirming the territory's role in the national enotourism scene.