Every year, across Italy, wineries participate in the week-long Calici di Stelle event (literally, Star-Filled Glasses or Wine Under the Stars), this year to be held August 6-14.
Organized by Italy’s Movimento Turismo del Vino (Movement for Wine Tourism), the gatherings include evening wine tastings and vineyard tours “under the stars.”
It’s inspired by the notte di San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, as it has come to be called in English, or the night of St. Lawrence.
St. Lawrence’s feast day falls on August 10, which, in turn, falls during the “prolific” Perseids Meteor Shower, when the stars appear to shoot across the sky.
The peak of the shower, which roughly runs from mid-July to the third-week of August, generally arrives around St. Lawrence’s feast day and this year the forecast calls for Friday, August 12 to be the peak. The association with the saint day is what gives la notte di San Lorenzo its name.
Some will remember that the night of the shooting stars inspired the 1982 film by the same name directed by the Taviani brothers (known as “La notte di San Lorenzo” in Italian).
Image via MK Feeney’s Flickr (Creative Commons).