TORna a RIvivere (Cellar Festival)

An evening where the village comes back to life

In the heart of the Bassa Sabina, in the province of Rieti, the town of Torri in Sabina hosts one of the most characteristic festivals of rural Lazio: TORna a RIvivere, also known as the Cellar Festival. For one summer evening between late June and early July, the ancient cellars carved into the historic center open their doors, and the entire village transforms into a cultural, musical, and gastronomic path that takes visitors back in time to the peasant life of the early 20th century. The name of the festival itself, with its playful capitalization, contains the name of the town — TORri — and its spirit: to revive the traditions of a community.

Open cellars and local flavors

The heart of the event is the cellar itinerary, which in past editions has involved nine cellars and two taverns set up along alleys and small squares. Starting at 7:00 PM, visitors walk through the village from stop to stop, tasting a specialty of Sabina cuisine in each cellar, accompanied by local white and red wines. Dishes featured over the years include:

• panzanella and fregnacce, traditional local egg pasta;
• beans with pork rinds and "fatti e tagliati";
• fried pizza and grilled sausages;
• cheeses and typical products of the Sabina region;
• peasant-style ring cookies, desserts, fruit, and the "Torri-style watermelon."

Folk music and an atmosphere of yesteryear

Accompanying the gastronomic journey are traveling musical groups and fixed stations that enliven the streets of the historic center with local folk music and 70s, 80s, and 90s revivals. The whole experience recreates the atmosphere of village festivals of the past: eating, drinking, dancing, and chatting within the medieval walls of the village, in a genuine and convivial climate that is the true hallmark of the event.

A history that began in 1995

TORna a RIvivere was born in 1995 from an idea by Alessio Bonifazi, then mayor of Torri in Sabina, with the goal of recovering ancient local traditions through a food and wine tour in the historic center. Since then, the festival has been organized every year by the Pro Loco of Torri in Sabina with the patronage of the Municipal Administration, and has exceeded twenty-five editions, becoming one of the most anticipated summer events in the area. The date traditionally falls between the end of June and the first Saturday of July, not far from the patronal feast of Saint John the Baptist, which the town celebrates on June 24.

Torri in Sabina and its land

The village of Torri in Sabina, perched among the olive groves of the Rieti Bassa Sabina, is a small jewel of the Lazio Region: medieval walls, towers, and alleys tell an ancient story, while a few kilometers away lies the Vescovio area with the church of Santa Maria, one of the most evocative places in Sabina. The cellar festival is the ideal opportunity to discover this territory, its peasant cuisine, and its famous extra virgin olive oil, one of the gastronomic symbols of Sabina.