Overview
Rather than the city of wine, it is 'the wine in the city'. This is Tollo, a small, large village in the province of Chieti, at the centre of a strongly vine-covered landscape, which has forged the knowledge and economy of a community with passion and shrewdness.
The key to its success? Respect for an almost thousand-year-old tradition linked to wine and the choice to focus, especially in recent years, on sustainable cultivation thanks to the method of managing the vineyard with the 'pergola' (also known as the 'tendone' or 'capanna').
Look around: dozens and dozens of hectares flow orderly under your gaze, giving life to the perfect geometries of the hills, made homogeneous and harmonious by this technique. A unique rural landscape to be protected, waiting to become part of the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
To better understand what we are talking about, all you must do is attend the grape harvest: an almost sacred event that involves the entire territory (about 90 per cent of it is planted with vines), giving you the chance to discover the secrets of this activity through the experience of the winemakers.
Did you know, for example, that the pergola's foliage, with short pruning, is able to respond to climate change and rising temperatures? In fact, its cover provides excellent ventilation, allows photosynthesis and prevents the bunches of grapes from being directly hit by the sun's rays, so that the grapes do not dry out and the sugar content increases.
Vineyards and wine were mentioned as early as 1067, the year in which the oldest written record of Tollo appears as a village where wine was produced for trade via the nearby harbour of Ortona.
Visit by appointment the Enomuseo, which tells the story of the relationship between wine, territory and inhabitants with its three exhibition floors dedicated to its history and cultivation, training, tasting and sales courses, with events and seminars relating to its culture.
An almost thousand-year-old tradition in which the value of the territory is expressed with the universal language of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, world champions, alongside Cococciola, Passerina and Pecorino, served to accompany the typical dishes of the province of Chieti. Also try 'toll' e fave, a poor man's dish made with broad beans and garlic, and don't miss, if you are in the right season, the 'white queen', the famous grape of Tollo.
What else to see:
- The Church of S.S. Maria Assumption
- The Church of Santa Marina
- The Nolli baronial palace
- The open-air theatre
- The historical re-enactment of the siege of the Turks