Vino e Voci

A festival that lets wine speak

Vino e Voci was born in 2025 in Monte Porzio Catone, a town in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio, with a simple yet brilliant idea: putting the wine glass and the microphone on the same stage. Each evening kicks off with a guided tasting dedicated to a local winery and continues with a live performance where the voice—whether recited, sung, or comedic—takes center stage. The result is a multidisciplinary festival that feels nothing like the traditional wine fairs of the area.

The Wine Museum, a venue with a story

The festival is hosted at the Wine Museum in Piazza Trieste, created through the architectural regeneration of Monte Porzio Catone's old railway station and its adjacent tunnel, which closed in 1944. Today, it is a contemporary cultural hub that chronicles the millennial tradition of Tusculum viticulture through exhibitions, masterclasses, and educational workshops. During the festival, the outdoor spaces transform into an open-air arena, with the audience seated among symbolic vine rows and museum installations.

The tastings: wines of the Castelli Romani

The heart of the event is the 7:30 PM session, each entrusted to a different producer. The 2025 edition featured leading Lazio wineries, with formats that blended storytelling and tasting:

• Sister in Wine — wines from Borgo del Cedro, with Sara Costantini
• Cesanese fuori Copione — wines from Le Cerquette, dedicated to Lazio's native red grape variety
• Bollicine fuori Copione — sparkling wines by Gabriele Pulcini
• Natura Zappa e Fermento — wines from Colle Formica, an evening combining wine, music, and green philosophy

We are in the heart of the Frascati production area, and Monte Porzio Catone is part of the Castelli Romani Wine Cities circuit: the tastings are therefore a direct way to understand how wine profiles shift from one side of the Tusculum hills to the other.

The voices: poetry, comedy, and theatre

At 9:00 PM, the tone shifts. The festival has hosted the Sisters in Poetry reading with Cecilia Lavatore, Sara Zacchi, and Federica Patera, followed by a Poetry Slam organized by Castelli in Versi; a stand-up comedy night with Tiziano La Bella, organized by Vaffancomedy; and the improv theatre show Arena Impro, performed by the Tempo di Mezzo company. This programming looks toward the contemporary Roman scene rather than traditional repertoire, attracting a younger audience to the museum.

Why visit

Monte Porzio Catone is located just over twenty kilometers from Rome, on the slopes of the Tusculum, with a view that reaches the capital on clear evenings. Vino e Voci is the perfect opportunity to discover a Castelli Romani village also known for Villa Mondragone—where the bull establishing the Gregorian calendar was promulgated in 1582—the Tusculum archaeological site, and the Rome Astronomical Observatory. An evening at the festival is easily combined with a stroll through the historic center and dinner in one of the local fraschette taverns.

Good to know

The festival takes place in summer, with activities starting in the late afternoon: it is advisable to arrive early for the tastings, as places are limited. As this is a young event, the calendar and program are announced by the Municipality and the Wine Museum in the preceding weeks.