WHEN MALVASIA IS POP!

At the Docks Cantieri Cucchini facilities in San Pietro di Castello , as well as through itineraries that extend into the city of Venice and the lagoon, the project takes shape through convivial events where wine and food are the protagonists of the dialogue between people, lagoon cruises, urban itineraries, and special encounters. Malvasia Pop Up™ recently received the Iter Vitis Award 2026 - Best Wine and Food Experience for its contribution to the valorization of wine heritage, cultural tourism, and sustainable territorial development. The recognition—promoted by Iter Vitis, the international federation that celebrates and protects global viticultural heritage through the promotion of sustainable wine tourism— recognized the value of an independent project that uses viticultural heritage as a tool for knowledge and cultural narration . Furthermore, on this occasion, Laura Riolfatto was named Malvasia Ambassador for Malvasia Myth , an international project dedicated to the valorization of Malvasia wines and their cultural and viticultural heritage.

"Malvasia Pop Up was born from a very simple question, " says creator Laura Riolfatto. " How many stories can we tell starting with a glass of Malvasia? From there, a quest began that led me to bring together wine, history, art, food, photography, and food culture, exploring the profound connection between Malvasia wines, Venice, and the Mediterranean. Receiving this award means seeing this very way of understanding wine recognized: not just as something to be enjoyed, but as a language through which to express culture, memory, and history."

The celebrations don't end with the award ceremony. The events organized by Malvasia Pop Up™ will continue in the coming months, specifically:

- On October 17th, Verso sera, in Laguna, will bring Malvasia Pop Up™ on the water, aboard the historic bragozzo Sant'Alban di Camoma, for a journey through the Venetian Lagoon, where wine, landscape, and memory meet. The voyage—departing from San Pietro di Castello—will become part of the narrative: the history of Malvasia, its trade, and its centuries-old connection with Venice will intertwine with that of Dorona, the lagoon's iconic grape. A stop in Vignole, among vegetable gardens and the lagoon landscape, will accompany the tasting and an encounter with the island's gastronomic flavors, before returning to Venice at dusk. This experience is designed to explore the lagoon through wine, following the traces of a culture born from the encounter between water, land, and vines.

- November 20th will be the turn of The Night of the Malvasias - Stories, Mysteries, and Wine in Autumn Venice : a special event featuring Venetian writer and narrator Alberto Toso Fei , in which stories, legends, and anecdotes from Venice's most secret corners will intertwine with the history of Malvasia and the traces this wine has left in the city over the centuries. The story will continue at the table with a tasting of three rare Italian red Malvasias, on a journey through territories, grape varieties, and history, created in collaboration with Iter Vitis, a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, and the Consortium for the Protection of Malvasia di Casorzo DOC . The event will take place at the Docks Cantieri Cucchini inside Tesa3 Marzotto.

- On December 20 , the 2026 program will conclude with "The Table as a Cultural Language ," a lunch-story dedicated to Italian Malvasia reds. A table as a meeting place for wine, food, and culture, where tasting becomes the thread of a story that spans territories, traditions, memories, and convivial gestures. Malvasia reds, in their diverse expressions, will accompany a gastronomic journey designed to convey the identity of their places of origin through flavor. An intimate gathering for a select few guests on the threshold of Christmas, it will symbolically close the second year of Malvasia Pop Up™, returning wine to its most ancient and universal dimension: that of the table as a space for connection, storytelling, and sharing. The event will take place at the Docks Cantieri Cucchini inside Tesa3 Marzotto.

Malvasia Pop Up™ is also part of the Via Querinissima network, a European Cultural Itinerary that retraces the 15th-century journey of the Venetian nobleman and merchant Pietro Querini, connecting Venice with the European territories through which it has traveled. This membership is part of Malvasia Pop Up™'s mission to build connections between wine, history, cultural routes, and European heritage, starting with Venice and its centuries-old openness to the Mediterranean and Europe.