Ripa Teatina

Located in the hills around Chieti, Ripa is highly respected for its food and wine production. The town benefits from its coastal location, and the wineries and olive mills produce some outstanding labels. The wines here are so good that Ripa is known locally as the "City of Wine". Here Trebbiano and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Merlot, Passerina and Pecorino are accompanied by a production of excellent olive oil.

When walking through the town, be sure to look upwards so you can admire the watchtowers, built at the end of the 15th century by Alfonso II of Aragon along with a curtain wall, now demolished. The bell tower on the Church of St Stephen dates back to the year 1010, and is one of the oldest in Italy.

A big draw for the tourists and a popular news item on social media is the fact that Ripa has a statue in the town centre, dedicated to the famous boxer Rocky Marciano, famed for his TV appearances and films. The reason is that Ripa was the birthplace of Rocky's father, whom we all know from his US-made cine-biography.