Altino and its red gold

A village on a spur that looks over two valleys, and a necklace of red peppers hung out to dry: “a cocce capammonte”, head up.

The story

Altino is a small village in the province of Chieti, gathered on a rocky spur that looks out over the Aventino and Sangro valleys. It is known above all for its “red gold”: the Altino sweet pepper.

The historic centre

The historic centre, perched on its rocky mass, still has its gentry houses. Worth noting are the palace of the Sirolli notaries, at the entrance to the old town, with its many rooms furnished in period style, some of them now used for visitor accommodation; and that of Doctor Sirolli, the historic house of the lords of Altino, linked to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo by a beautiful garden whose view spills out along the Sangro valley.

From the top of the historic centre one takes in landscapes of great appeal, from the great bulk of the Maiella to the valley of the Rio Secco, with the hamlet of Mandrelle among its olive groves; from the historic centre of Casoli under its castle to the bends of the Aventino which, right by the Serranella Oasis, join the Sangro. You can see the vegetable plots, what is left of the lowland forests, the old olive groves of Sant'Angelo, the stretches of water where — above all during migration — many bird species can be watched.

The beam presses

Oil is another of Altino's typical products. In its outlying hamlets a few of the remarkable machines built in the 18th and 19th centuries for pressing olives and grapes still survive: the beam presses, the frantoi “a trabocco”. Two large upright supports, paired and driven into the floor, carry a long, stout beam of pedunculate oak, to the end of which a great stone is tied by a screw made of service-tree wood. By turning the screw the beam can be raised or lowered; its own weight and that of the stone press hard on the mats, forcing out the oil together with the water, both gathered in a pit dug below floor level. The miller then separates oil from water with the “mappa”, a kind of large flat spoon.

The countryside around Altino is rich in centuries-old olive trees, which can be seen near the hamlets of Sant'Angelo and Colli.