Calici di Stelle (Sicily) is one of the wine festivals that anchors the Sicily calendar, drawing both local visitors and international wine travellers each year. The festival is held at Multiple participating villages and wineries across Sicily, in the heart of the Sicily wine area. It is an annual event with an established local audience and a consistent place in the regional calendar.
Italy's most romantic wine evening, held around the Night of San Lorenzo when the Perseid meteor shower peaks. Organised jointly by Movimento Turismo del Vino and Citta del Vino, the event runs across hundreds of villages, wineries and historic squares from northern Italy down to Sicily. In Sicily, participating wineries and town councils organise open-air tastings combining the area's wines with local food, live music and stargazing. Calici di Stelle takes its name from the Night of San Lorenzo on 10 August, when the Perseid meteor shower peaks over Italy. Wineries and town councils across the region run open-air tastings under the night sky, often combined with local food, live music and astronomy programmes. The atmosphere is relaxed and family-friendly, with wines typically poured in the form of guided tasting flights through the participating area. The event is organised jointly by Movimento Turismo del Vino and Citta del Vino, with each participating town or winery setting its own programme within the broader nationwide framework. Many editions include amateur astronomers giving talks during the evening, adding a cultural dimension to the wine tasting itself. The event is organised by Movimento Turismo del Vino + Citta del Vino, which sets the tone and direction of the programme each year.
Sicily produces a broad range of wines across Italy's largest region, with Nero d'Avola, Frappato (the basis of Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, Sicily's only DOCG) and Etna's volcanic reds (Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio) leading the red category. Whites include Grillo, Catarratto, Carricante (Etna), Inzolia, Zibibbo (the Pantelleria Muscat) and the historic fortified Marsala. The island has been a major area of wine quality investment over the past twenty years, with strong wine tourism infrastructure especially around Mount Etna.
The 2026 edition is scheduled for Around 10 August 2026 (Night of San Lorenzo). Festival access is ticketed: Paid (tasting pass, ~€10-25). Full programme, ticketing and updated information are published on the official site at https://www.movimentoturismovino.it/it/calici-di-stelle. 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.
Sicily is reached via Palermo, Catania or Trapani airports, with a robust ferry network from mainland Italy. Wine festival visits combine naturally with Sicilian cultural tourism: the Greek temples at Agrigento and Selinunte, the Roman mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale, Mount Etna's volcanic landscape (with cellar visits and lava-field hiking), Palermo's Arabo-Norman heritage, and Baroque Noto and Modica. Sicilian cuisine pairs the wines with caponata, pasta alla Norma, swordfish, arancini, granita and cassata.
