Civita, a night to remember: the first food-and-wine twinning is now a reality
Last night, Friday 10 July 2026, Civita lived a truly special moment. In the heart of this Arbëreshë village, the first food-and-wine twinning between Cassano all’Ionio, Civita and Mormanno finally took place — an initiative we’d been looking forward to for months, and one that turned out even better than we’d hoped.
As a non-profit association, we were there, right in the middle of it all — among the people, the producers and the local institutions — to tell this story and bring it to everyone who couldn’t be there in person. And telling it was a genuine pleasure, because what you could feel in Civita last night doesn’t happen every day: three different communities, each with its own history and traditions, coming together around a shared table built on flavours, local products and a real desire to build something together.
Behind this evening lies a journey that started a long time ago. The idea for the twinning came from a handful of local administrators who deeply believe in the value of their own communities: Civita town councillor Gaetano Arcidiacono, together with Cassano all’Ionio councillor Michele Filardi and Mormanno’s Tourism Councillor Flavio De Barti, have been carrying this project forward since the very first technical meetings, convinced that Arbëria, Sibaritide and Pollino had a lot to tell each other — and a lot worth sharing.
What made last night’s event special wasn’t just the products on display, quality aside. It was, above all, the atmosphere: producers from all three areas standing side by side, visitors curious to discover excellences they might never have come across otherwise, and a genuine festive mood that spread through the whole village.
The twinning brought together Civita’s cultural and scenic identity, Cassano all’Ionio’s historical and productive richness, and the inland traditions of Mormanno — without flattening any of the three, but rather letting them speak to one another. And that’s really the deeper meaning of this initiative: not just a food-and-wine event, but one piece of a much bigger project to promote the Sibaritide area and the Pollino National Park.
As Visit Sibaritide, our job last night was simple: be there, watch, listen and tell the story. We believe that events like this one, when told and connected to everything else, can become something more than a one-off memory — the goal, as always, is to help build a shared narrative for our territory, one that lasts over time.
Last night’s success is an important signal, and we’re confident it’s just the first chapter of a story that will keep growing.We’ll keep following it, event after event, because Sibaritide, Arbëria and Pollino still have plenty of stories left to tell.
