Ventricina and Bubbles — Pollutri Stage

Ventricina and Bubbles in Pollutri

Ventricina and Bubbles is a traveling food and wine festival that traverses the villages of the Vastese area in southern Abruzzo every summer to celebrate the flavors, conviviality, and traditions of the Chieti province. The Pollutri stage represents one of the final events on the calendar, ideally closing the journey of taste that descends from the inland hills to the Costa dei Trabocchi.

Ventricina del Vastese, the absolute star

At the heart of the event is the Ventricina del Vastese, recognized as a Slow Food Presidium: a sausage with a characteristic red color, flavored with chili pepper and fennel seeds, produced for centuries in the hillside villages between the Trigno River and the Adriatic Sea. Alongside the ventricina, the festival showcases bubbles, or local sparkling wines, in a pairing that reflects the quality and identity of Abruzzo's viticulture.

A regional project

The festival is sponsored by the Abruzzo Region and promoted by the Ventricina del Vastese Producers Association, chaired by Stefano Fiore, in collaboration with local municipal administrations. The goal is to build a unified promotion of inland villages, connecting territories, flavors, and stories. The traveling route involves several municipalities in the Vastese — including Cupello, Scerni, Fresagrandinaria, Torrebruna, and Ortona — and finds one of its most significant moments in Pollutri, also thanks to the proximity of the Bosco di Don Venanzio Regional Reserve.

An evening of taste, music, and hospitality

The event's formula combines tastings of local products, music, hospitality, and opportunities to discover the village. The Pollutri stage brings the town to life with food stalls, producers, and wineries, offering visitors an authentic experience among the flavors of the Vastese and the warmth of the local community, in a dialogue that has linked the Costa dei Trabocchi to other Italian food and wine regions over the years.

Pollutri and the Vastese

The municipality of Pollutri, in the province of Chieti (Abruzzo), is an agricultural village overlooking the Adriatic coast. It is known for its farming traditions, the Feast of Saint Anthony Abbot with its "pigndate" of beans, and the nearby Bosco di Don Venanzio Regional Reserve, a highly valuable protected natural area. The Ventricina and Bubbles festival enriches the Pollutri summer calendar, helping to enhance the territory's identity and promote food and wine tourism in the inland areas of Abruzzo.