Free Wine Fountain

Yesterday I blogged on the significant 'mark-up' on wines purchased in UK restaurants, as oppose to the price you would pay for a bottle to drink at home. However, this is not the case in Italy, where I spent the summer - good wine being reasonably priced, both inside and outside the restaurant. The Italians wouldn't settle for anything less, but as for giving their wine away free, that might be a step too far.

I visited Abruzzo in Central Italy in late July, but I must have missed the fountain providing free wine! A fountain to quench the thirst of walkers on the popular tourist route the Cammino di San Tommaso is a font with a difference - not providing water but wine. The 'font del vino' in Caldari di Ortona, is free and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Created by the local Dora Sarchese vineyard, the fountain serves red wine to thousands of tourists who make the journey from Rome to Ortona to visit the cathedral where the remains of Thomas, one of Jesus's disciple, are kept.

The fountain is a joint project between Dora Sarchese and the organisation in charge of maintaining and promoting the Cammino di San Tommaso, is believed to be the first free wine font in Italy to be open all the time, with previous similar attractions used as one-off set ups to celebrate events and festivals.

Have a look on the vineyard's Facebook page and  you'll see, ''the Fountain of Wine is a welcome, the Fountain of Wine is poetry''. Not to forget, it was not for the use of ''drunkards'' or ''rogues''.

It's on my itinerary for next summer's trip to Italy!