Sagne a lù cuttèur Festival

The festival of Castiglione Messer Marino's signature dish

In the heart of the Alto Vastese, at an altitude of 1,081 meters in the Frentani Mountains, the village of Castiglione Messer Marino (Chieti, Abruzzo) dedicates every summer to its most iconic dish: sagne a lù cuttèur, or cauldron-cooked sagne. It is the most anticipated gastronomic event of the year for this community of just over a thousand residents, a moment when the village gathers in Piazza della Repubblica to share a ritual rooted in the local agro-pastoral culture.

A dish born among water mills

The name and tradition have ancient origins, dating back to when water mills were active in the area. While waiting for the basins to fill and the mills to be ready for use, the millers would spend the long hours kneading flour and cooking sagne on-site in large copper pots, which were then seasoned and shared with everyone. Today, the mills are gone, but the tradition remains intact: the sagne are still eaten together from the same copper cuttèure, strictly by hand—a convivial gesture to which the people of Castiglione are deeply attached.

Traditional ingredients

Sagne a lù cuttèur is a humble yet flavor-packed dish. The diamond-shaped pasta is strictly handmade; the sauce is based on sausage, bacon, and above all, dried sweet pepper powder, one of the ingredients that makes this preparation unmistakable. It is a hearty mountain dish that tells the story of the peasant and pastoral cuisine of inland Abruzzo. It is no coincidence that in Castiglione, sagne a lù cuttèur are also traditionally linked to the Carnival period, when they are accompanied by the village's ancient masks.

A village to discover

The festival is also an opportunity to visit Castiglione Messer Marino, a 14th-century fortified village surrounded by forests and areas of great natural interest, such as the WWF Abetina di Selva Grande Oasis. The town is also famous for its Ventricina del Vastese, the prized cured meat from this corner of Abruzzo between the provinces of Chieti and Molise, and it maintains a strong identity linked to the pastoral tradition of the tratturi (ancient sheep tracks).