In Ortona in the Chieti province of Italy, in 2015, two avid walkers, Dina and Luigi, helped create “Il Cammino Di San Tommaso”. This 313-kilometer pilgrimage starts in Rome and ends in Ortona, connecting the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Thomas. The route crosses the width of Italy from east coast to west and passes through various nature reserves, over old horseshoe trails and dirt farm tracks, and various religious landmarks such as medieval abbeys and castles.
The pilgrimage takes 16 days to complete and upon arriving in Ortona the pilgrims are both tired and thirsty and so Dina and Luigi had the idea of creating a wine fountain in a nearby winery so that pilgrims could rest and refresh themselves.
However, this fountain is not open 24-7 as many websites claim, because the fountain is situated within the winery itself it is only available for use when the winery itself is open.
This may seem like an original idea but in fact, Dina and Luigi copied the idea from the Spanish pilgrimage “El Camino de Santiago”.
With over 1000 years of history, El Camino De Santiago is the oldest and most famous Christian pilgrimage and it too, has a wine fountain.
This wine fountain pays tribute to the times when pilgrims would arrive at the hospital, exhausted and thirsty and the monks would receive them offering a glass of wine.
Bodegas Irache installed the fountain in 1991 to pay homage to the monks and to celebrate their 100 year anniversary.
This fountain offers both wine and water and is open from 8 am to 8 pm. You can even watch pilgrims drink via webcam!
This isn’t the only wine fountain in Spain though, in 2006 a wine tasting fountain with 5 different wines was opened in a wine museum in Ronda, Malaga, and in 2007, in Fuencaliente on the Canary island, La Palma, a 3000-liter wine fountain was opened by winery Llanovid de Teneguia.
In fact possibly the oldest wine fountain is the Fuente Del Vino de Cadiar, in La Alpujarra in Granada.
Since 1967 the fountain was built every year to celebrate the local fiestas but in 1987, they decided to leave it functioning all year round.
In 2014 the fountain itself was renovated and its current design offers both red and rose wines.
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