Festa dell'Uva Cinque Terre

Festa dell'Uva Cinque Terre is one of the wine festivals that anchors the Liguria calendar, drawing both local visitors and international wine travellers each year. It is held at Vernazza / Manarola / Riomaggiore in 19011-19018 SP, in the heart of one of Italy's most distinctive wine areas. It returns each year as a recurring fixture in the regional wine calendar. Traditional grape harvest festival in the UNESCO-listed Cinque Terre on the eastern Ligurian coast. The terraced vineyards above the five fishing villages — Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore — host harvest celebrations including grape pressing demonstrations, tastings of Cinque Terre DOC whites and the rare sweet Sciacchetra, and seafood dinners along the coastline. The dramatic landscape of vineyard terraces dropping to the Mediterranean is part of the experience. Italian grape and harvest festivals — sagre and feste dell'uva — are some of the country's longest-running celebrations, with many running uninterrupted for a century or more. Programmes typically combine grape-stomping demonstrations, traditional music, parades of allegorical floats, food stalls offering regional specialities, and tastings of the area's wines. The events have strong local character and are often as much community celebrations as wine programmes, with town councils, parish committees and local producer associations sharing the organisational load. Many festivals incorporate religious elements — blessings of the harvest, processions to the parish church — that connect the wine calendar to the liturgical year. The event is organised by Comuni delle Cinque Terre, which sets the tone and direction of the programme each year. Liguria is a small, steep wine region producing wines on terraced slopes that drop dramatically to the Mediterranean. Vermentino, Pigato (a saline Vermentino-related variety) and Rossese di Dolceacqua dominate the Riviera di Ponente in the west, while the Cinque Terre and Colli di Luni in the east produce Vermentino-based whites and the rare sweet Sciacchetra. Volumes are small and most wines are consumed locally, often with Ligurian seafood and pesto-based dishes. The 2026 edition is scheduled for Late September 2026 (dates TBC). Entry is free, with optional paid tasting passes or guided sessions available on site. Full programme, ticketing and updated information are published on the official site at https://www.parconazionale5terre.it/. Visitors are advised to check directly with the organiser for the latest schedule, as Italian festival programmes are sometimes updated close to the event date. Liguria is reached via Genoa, with the Cinque Terre easily accessible by train from Genoa or La Spezia. The Riviera di Ponente in the west is reached via the coast road from Genoa to the French border. Ligurian cuisine pairs the wines with focaccia, trofie or trenette al pesto, anchovies in olive oil, salt cod, and the local farinata chickpea pancake. The dramatic terraced vineyards above the Mediterranean give the area's wine events a distinctive setting.