Marino Wine Festival

Marino Wine Festival

First weekend in October

The Italian town of Marino is located in the area southeast of Rome known as the Castelli Romani, after the numerous castles, palaces, and Renaissance villas that dot the landscape. Marino is known as a wine town, and there are about a hundred cantine —small, nondescript taverns where tourists and residents can buy the local wine, which is often siphoned from a large vat and poured into an empty mineral water bottle, for a very low price. It's not surprising, then, that during the town's wine festival in early October the new grape harvest is celebrated by letting the previous year's wine gush freely from the Moors Fountain. Crowds of Romans eager to escape the city descend upon Marino with jugs, bottles, and thermoses to fill. The wine is free for the taking and is the perfect accompaniment to a porchetta sandwich, the filling made by slowly roasting pig over a woodfire with fresh garlic, rosemary, and olive oil.

CONTACTS:
Italian Government Tourist Board
630 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1565
New York, NY 10111
212-245-5618; fax: 212-586-9249
www.italiantourism.com

Celebration days:
2011: Oct 1; Oct 2
2012: Oct 6; Oct 7
2013: Oct 5; Oct 6
2014: Oct 4; Oct 5
2015: Oct 3; Oct 4