Portocannone
Tenimenti Grieco
On the route
View wineryMolise · Wine route · 1 day, 70 km loop
Strada del Vino del Molise A one-day loop from Termoli through the lower Biferno valley. Four cellars in Campomarino, San Martino in Pensilis and Portocannone, then Guglionesi on the hill above the river, and back to the sea.
52
km end to end
1
1 day, 70 km loop
6
stops, Termoli to Guglionesi
2
denominations crossed
Why this drive: Tintilia is a grape that nearly vanished. It survived in a few old men's rows until estates like Catabbo replanted it in 1992, and it only got its own DOC in 2011. Nowhere else in Italy grows it, so this short loop is the only road where you can taste it at the cellars that saved it. The bonus is the sea: Termoli's walled old town, the brodetto, and the ferry to the Tremiti islands are 20 minutes from every vineyard.
The route, drawn
See the whole road, then drive it stop by stop
The map stays with you as you read: scroll the stops and it follows, or press a marker to jump. Leg times are door to door, before the views slow you down.
Layers
The drive
Numbered stops
Estates near the route
Stop 1 of 6 · Termoli
1
Stop 1 · The walled start
Termoli
ZTL city, see the driving notesWalled fishing town on a headland, Molise's only port, and the start and end of the loop.
What to taste here
- BifernoDOC The valley's DOC in white, rosé and red; the rosé is the one for the fish
- Brodetto alla termolese Ten kinds of fish in one pot, a recipe the town has registered; order the Biferno Bianco with it
Park at Piazza Sant'Antonio by the Castello Svevo and walk into the Borgo Antico; cars are gated all year and banned in summer. The cathedral and the old lanes take an hour. The Tremiti ferries leave from the port below, mid-April to mid-October.
Where to eat
Brodetto alla termolese and the day's Adriatic catch
Osteria Dentro le Mura. Via Federico II di Svevia 3, inside the walls of the Borgo Antico. Antonio and Lina Terzano's osteria, open since 1999 and a Slow Food snail since 2007.
2
Stop 2 · The estate that put Molise on the map
Di Majo Norante
Campomarino's historic estate, making wine here since the 1800s on 123 hectares of the old Norante fief, and the name that took Molise abroad.
What to taste here
- Tintilia del MoliseDOC Taste it beside Ramitello, the house Biferno Rosso, to see what the local grape adds
- Osco / Terre degli OsciIGT The Sangiovese and the Molì range carry this label; start here, then move up
Contrada Ramitello, Via Vino Ramitello 4, on the Nuova Cliternia side of Campomarino. The estate lists a phone number and no visit format, so ring before you set out. Don Luigi, the Molise Rosso Riserva, is the bottle to bring home.
Where to taste
Azienda Agricola Di Majo Norante
View wineryWines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
3
Stop 3 · Third-generation cellar by the sea
Cantine Borgo di Colloredo
The Di Giulio family's cellar on the low slopes facing the Adriatic, run by the third generation, brothers Enrico and Pasquale.
What to taste here
- BifernoDOC Gironia comes in all three colours; the Rosso Riserva is the one to ask for
- MoliseDOC Campo in Mare, the estate's Molise Rosso, is the everyday bottle
Via Colloredo 15, Campomarino. The cellar keeps shop hours, Monday to Friday 8.30 to 12.30 and 14 to 17.30, Saturday 8.30 to 12.30, closed Sunday. No booked tour is listed; ask for Gironia, the house Biferno.
Where to taste
Cantine Borgo di Colloredo
View winery
4
Stop 4 · Where Tintilia was replanted
Catabbo
The San Martino in Pensilis estate that replanted Tintilia in 1992, half a hectare on stony ground, and built the grape's revival on it.
What to taste here
- Tintilia del MoliseDOC Taste the standard bottling against the top selection; this is the grape's home ground
- Falanghina The estate's white; taste it before the reds
Contrada Petriera. Open Monday to Friday 9 to 13 and 15 to 18, Saturday 9 to 13; send a visit request through the estate's site. Vincenzo Catabbo's children Sara, Carla and Pasquale run it now. On 30 April the village races ox carts through the streets.
Where to taste
Catabbo
Booking required
5
Stop 5 · Portocannone's cellar
Tenimenti Grieco
Portocannone estate five minutes from Catabbo, with Tintilia, Falanghina and Aglianico on the hills above the Biferno.
What to taste here
- Tintilia del MoliseDOC Bottled under the estate's 200 Metri line
- Aglianico The southern grape the estate also grows; try it beside the Tintilia
Contrada Difensola, Portocannone. A phone number and no visit format on the estate's site, so call ahead. Portocannone itself is one of the valley's Arbëreshë villages, settled from Albania five centuries ago.
Where to taste
Tenimenti Grieco
View wineryWines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
6
Stop 6 · Hill town above the river
Guglionesi
Hill town on the far bank of the Biferno, the loop's last stop, known for its cured pork and the frescoed crypt of Sant'Adamo.
What to taste here
- BifernoDOC The red, with the village's cured pork
- MoliseDOC The region-wide DOC that covers both provinces
Cross the river near Portocannone and climb. The church of Santa Maria Maggiore holds the twelfth-century crypt of Sant'Adamo, frescoed in 1587. Termoli is 18 km and 25 minutes back down to the coast.
Before you go
The practicalities
Visit prices are set by the winery and availability should be checked before travelling. Bookings open on the estate page or the provider's site.
When to go
Harvest in late September, ferries until mid-October
The Tintilia harvest runs from mid-September into the first days of October. The Tremiti ferries sail from mid-April to mid-October, about an hour each way, so a spring or autumn weekend gets both cellars and islands. San Martino in Pensilis races its ox carts through the streets on 30 April, the Carrese, and the village is packed that day. Campomarino's wine festival is on 13 August, and from 15 June to 15 September Termoli's old town is closed to cars day and night.
Booking reality
One request page, three phone calls
Catabbo is the one estate on this loop with a visit request page in our records. It opens Monday to Friday, 9 to 13 and 15 to 18, and Saturday mornings, and answers by email. Borgo di Colloredo posts cellar hours, Monday to Friday 8.30 to 12.30 and 14 to 17.30, Saturday mornings, but no booked tour. Di Majo Norante and Tenimenti Grieco list a phone number and no visit format, so ring ahead. Nothing here books online.
Driving notes
No brown signs, so navigate by village
Do not look for brown wine-road signs; the association's loop exists on paper, and you navigate by village name. The SS 16 Adriatica runs down the coast from Termoli to Campomarino, and the lanes between the cellars are quiet provincial roads. Guglionesi sits on the far bank of the Biferno, reached by crossing the river near Portocannone. The SS 647 Bifernina, the fast valley road, is your link inland to Larino and Campobasso. Termoli's old town is a camera zone all year and fully pedestrian from 15 June to 15 September. Fuel on the SS 16 before you turn inland.
ZTL
Cameras on the Termoli headland
Termoli's Borgo Antico, the walled old town on the headland, has camera gates at its entrances and at the nineteenth-century centre, live since April 2026. From 15 June to 15 September the Borgo is pedestrian around the clock; the rest of the year it is a 24-hour restricted zone. Park at Piazza Sant'Antonio, the paid car park beside the Castello Svevo, or at the Autoparcheggio del Porto for the Tremiti pier. Guglionesi, Campomarino and San Martino have no restricted zones.
Getting a car
Train to Termoli, hire by the station
Termoli station is on the Adriatic main line. Frecciarossa trains come from Pescara in 46 minutes and from Bari in about two and a quarter hours. From Rome there is no direct train: change at Pescara, about four and a half hours in all. Hertz at Viale Italia 111 and Locauto both have Termoli desks. Collect the car in the morning, drive the loop, and hand it back before the ferry or the train. In summer you do not want it in the old town at all, because the Borgo is closed to cars.
Leave the driving out
Do this route with a guide
Some booking links earn italianwines.co.uk a commission. This never affects price or what we recommend.
Tours in this wine area
Nearby, not the route itself
Molise Truffle Hunting Experience with Food Tasting & Wines
Join a real truffle hunt in the Molise countryside with trained dogs, followed by a tasting of fresh truffle dishes and local wines at a family-run estate. Approximate...
2 hours
From €45
Book via
Molise Passport: The paths of Tintilia with tasting
Among the rows of Tintilia vines, a walk that becomes an authentic experience: grape harvest, the scent of must, and a final tasting that celebrates the farming tradit...
4 hours
From €29
Book via
Where to sleep on the route
One estate on this road has rooms, so you can book the cellar and the bed together.
0
Before you ask
Strada del Vino del Molise, answered
No. The Strada del Vino del Molise association in Campobasso publishes a coastal loop from Termoli through Nuova Cliternia, San Martino in Pensilis, Portocannone and Guglionesi. There are no brown signs on the ground, so you navigate by village. The coast road is the SS 16 Adriatica and the fast valley road inland is the SS 647 Bifernina.
About 70 minutes of driving for the 52 km between the six stops, plus 25 minutes back from Guglionesi to Termoli. With two cellar visits and lunch it fills a day comfortably, and you are back by the sea for the evening.
Not reliably. Catabbo has a visit request page and answers by email. Borgo di Colloredo keeps shop hours, Monday to Friday and Saturday morning, but does not list a tour. Di Majo Norante and Tenimenti Grieco give a phone number only. Ring the day before, in Italian if you can.
At Piazza Sant'Antonio, the paid car park beside the Castello Svevo at the entrance to the old town. For the ferry, use the Autoparcheggio del Porto, 100 metres from the Tremiti pier, at 1 euro an hour or 6 euros a day. Do not drive into the Borgo Antico: camera gates went live in April 2026, and from 15 June to 15 September it is closed to cars altogether.
Late September, when Tintilia is being picked and the ferries still run to the Tremiti. Spring works too: the Carrese ox-cart race fills San Martino in Pensilis on 30 April, and the islands open in mid-April. August brings Campomarino's wine festival on the 13th, but also the beach traffic on the SS 16.
A red grape found only in Molise, once almost extinct because it gives little fruit. Catabbo replanted half a hectare of it at San Martino in Pensilis in 1992, and the grape got its own DOC, Tintilia del Molise, in 2011. The wines are deep ruby, full and soft, and the best need a few years in bottle.
Larino is not on the association's loop, but it is 25 minutes inland from Catabbo on the SS 647. The Roman amphitheatre of Larinum and the other digs open from Via Dante on weekday and Saturday mornings, 9 to 13. The old town is where to try pampanella, pork baked with chilli.
Take the ferry to the Tremiti islands from Termoli, about an hour each way, between mid-April and mid-October. Or stay: the Castello Svevo, the cathedral inside the walls, and brodetto at a table in the Borgo Antico are the evening.
Take it with you
Save the 4 estates on this road as a trip
They land in a trip named after the route, in drive order. Reorder them, drop one, add a night, before you book anything.
You'll need to sign in, and we bring you straight back to this route.