Last updated: July 2026
Pantelleria, the volcanic island between Sicily and Tunisia, produces two things the rest of the world knows it for: a sweet wine made from raisined grapes, and capers. Both come from the same unlikely agriculture — vines and bushes grown low to the ground on lava terraces, worked by hand because no machine can reach them.
This page covers what to taste, where the producers are, and how to book a visit. It sits alongside our guides to things to do in Pantelleria and to the island’s food and drink. Contacts and opening arrangements were verified in July 2026 from each producer’s own site.
The vines that got UNESCO status
In 2014 UNESCO inscribed the vite ad alberello — Pantelleria’s head-trained bush vine — on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was the first agricultural practice ever recognised in that list.
The technique is a response to wind. Growers dig a shallow basin, plant the vine at the bottom and keep it pruned low so it never rises above the dry-stone wall sheltering it. The hollow collects dew and the wall breaks the maestrale. Everything — pruning, harvest, carrying the crop — is done by hand on terraces too steep and narrow for machinery, which is why the practice is often called viticoltura eroica. It is the vines, not the caper terraces, that carry the UNESCO listing.
Passito di Pantelleria
The island’s signature wine and one of Italy’s great sweet wines. Zibibbo grapes are picked, laid out on racks in the open air and left to raisin in the sun, concentrating sugar and aroma before pressing. The result is amber, dense, and tastes of apricot, dried fig and honey. It is a dessert wine: served after the meal, not as an aperitivo — a distinction worth knowing before you order at a bar at sunset.
Passito di Pantelleria carries DOC status, and the best-known bottling is Donnafugata’s Ben Ryé. Prices vary widely by producer and vintage, so buy at the cellar door where you can taste first — every producer below pours it.
Drink it with the island’s own desserts, with aged cheese, or on its own at the end of a long dinner at Il Principe e Il Pirata or La Vela.
Zibibbo: the dry wines
Zibibbo is Moscato d’Alessandria, and on Pantelleria it does not only go sweet. The dry whites made from the same grape are the island’s everyday wine and the more interesting discovery for most visitors: aromatic on the nose, then unexpectedly dry and saline on the palate, with the volcanic soil showing through.
Order it by the glass anywhere on the island and it will be local. Producers also make skin-contact and orange versions, and a handful of reds from Nero d’Avola, Syrah and other varieties planted at altitude. If you are eating fish — and on Pantelleria you usually are — the dry Zibibbo is the pairing. Try it at Il Cappero or anywhere along the harbour.
Winery visits: who to book
Cellars here are small and mostly visit-by-appointment. Book ahead rather than turning up, especially in August, and expect a walk through the terraces as part of the visit rather than a tasting-room-only experience.
- Donnafugata — Khamma. The island’s best-known name, present here since 1989. Guided visits and tastings run at set times in season (11:00, 17:00, 18:30 and 21:00), booked in advance. +39 0923 915 649 · donnafugata.it ↗
- Marco De Bartoli — Bukkuram. The estate was founded in 1984, five hectares at around 200 m with the cellar in an eighteenth-century dammuso. Visits by arrangement. marcodebartoli.com ↗
- Cantine Pellegrino — Contrada Cuddie Rosse. The Marsala house has been on Pantelleria for over thirty years, with eight hectares at Contrada Sibà. In summer they open a wine bar for guided tastings and sunset aperitivi. +39 0923 912 730 · carlopellegrino.it ↗
- Abraxas — Contrada Kuddia Randazzo, run by the Scudieri family. The largest vineyard area on the island, over thirty hectares, and the highest cellar. Guided vineyard tours and tastings, plus rooms in restored dammusi. abraxaspantelleria.it ↗
- Coste Ghirlanda — visits and tastings by appointment. costeghirlanda.it ↗
Our wineries guide covers these and the smaller producers in more detail, including Abbazia San Giorgio, Cantina Basile, Salvatore Murana, Ferrandes and Minardi.
Getting there matters: the cellars are scattered across the contrade and none is walkable from town. The East Coast Line and the South-West Line reach some of the villages, but for a tasting day you will want a car and a nominated driver.
Capperi di Pantelleria IGP
Pantelleria’s capers received IGP status — Protected Geographical Indication — in June 1996, and the designation covers the whole island. A consortium oversees the standard. They are not the same product as the caper you buy in vinegar: here they are cured in sea salt, which keeps the floral, almost mustardy aroma that vinegar strips out.
The bushes grow low on terraced lava, and the buds are picked by hand, one at a time, in repeated passes through the summer as the plant keeps producing. The smallest grade is the most prized. After salting they rest and are turned periodically before being packed.
Buying them. Take salted, not pickled. Rinse briefly before use — do not soak them for an hour, which washes out the flavour along with the salt. They are sold at producers, at the shops in town and at farm stands around the contrade; the caper is the single most portable thing to take home from the island. Several agriturismi sell their own.
Couscous pantesco and what else to eat
Pantelleria sits closer to Tunisia than to Sicily, and the food shows it. Couscous pantesco is the clearest example: semolina rolled by hand, steamed, and served with fish broth on the island rather than with the meat you would find inland. Some kitchens do a vegetable version. It is a dish that takes hours, so it often needs ordering a day ahead.
Beyond it, look for insalata pantesca — boiled potatoes, tomatoes, onion, oregano and of course capers; ravioli amari filled with ricotta and mint; and whatever the boats brought in. Dammuso Ristorante and the other tables in our restaurants guide cover the range.
Baci panteschi and island desserts
The bacio pantesco is the island’s own dessert: two thin flower-shaped wafers fried to order and sandwiched around sweetened ricotta. Eaten warm, within minutes, which is why it rarely travels beyond the island. Most bars and pastry shops in town make it, and several restaurants finish the meal with one alongside a glass of Passito — La Nicchia among them.
Also worth ordering: mustazzoli, hard spiced biscuits made with cooked wine must, and the local take on Sicilian cannoli and cassata. For gelato and pastry in town, Pasticceria Gelateria Katia on Lungomare Paolo Borsellino is the reference — see our restaurants guide for details.
Cooking classes and home dining
Cooking experiences on Pantelleria are informal and seasonal — they are run by agriturismi, by wineries alongside their tastings, and by individual hosts, and the offer changes from one summer to the next. There is no established school with a fixed timetable, so the honest advice is to book through a channel that shows current availability rather than to chase a name from a guide.
- Through your accommodation. The agriturismi are the most reliable route — several run couscous lessons and dinners for guests and non-guests by arrangement. See our agriturismo guide.
- Through the wineries. Several producers pair a tasting with a meal built around island dishes; ask when you book the visit.
- Home-dining platforms. Eatwith and similar sites list private hosts, though availability on an island this small is thin and varies by season.
Whatever you book, check it is running before you build a day around it: on Pantelleria most food experiences operate only from late spring to early autumn.
Food festivals: Passitaly and Cappero Fest
Two island festivals are worth planning around, both in late summer and early autumn, both organised with the Comune di Pantelleria.
Passitaly is the festival of Passito di Pantelleria: tastings of the island’s sweet-wine production, conferences, and an accompanying programme of food, nature and cultural itineraries around the island. It has run in various formats over the years, including a music strand.
Cappero Fest celebrates the caper. Recent editions have been held in September at Punta San Leonardo, near Pantelleria Town, combining a guided walk in the national park in the morning with tastings, talks and live music into the evening. The 2025 edition was the fourth.
Dates move year to year, and we deliberately do not publish them here, because a wrong date in a guide sends someone to an empty quay. Check the Comune’s events pages and the island tourism board before booking flights around either festival.
comunepantelleria.it ↗ · Cappero Fest on the island tourism board ↗ · passitaly.com ↗
Building a tasting day
The cellars sit inland and uphill, which means the day works best combined with something else. A morning walk, a cellar visit before lunch, a swim in the afternoon.
- Walk first: the Montagna Grande Trail, the Lago di Venere Crater Walk, the Arco dell’Elefante walk, the lava field on the Gelfiser Path or the coast route to Punta Spadillo.
- Swim after: Cala Levante, Cala Gadir, Cala Cinque Denti or, if you have the vehicle for it, Balata dei Turchi.
- Or soak: the Lago di Venere, the steam cave at Bagno Asciutto or the rock basins at Sataria Cave.
- From the water: a day on the water with one of the island’s boat operators such as Nautilus Boat, or diving from Cala Levante Diving.
- Arriving or leaving the same day, the Airport Shuttle connects the terminal to town.
Pantelleria food and wine: questions answered
Two things above all: Passito di Pantelleria, a sweet DOC wine made from sun-raisined Zibibbo grapes, and Capperi di Pantelleria IGP, capers cured in sea salt rather than vinegar. The island also makes dry Zibibbo whites, and its cooking shows a clear North African influence.
The vite ad alberello, Pantelleria’s head-trained bush vine, inscribed in 2014 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was the first agricultural practice ever added to that list. The recognition covers the growing technique, not the caper terraces.
IGP — Protected Geographical Indication — granted in June 1996, with the designation covering the whole island and overseen by a consortium. Buy them salted rather than pickled, and rinse them only briefly before use: a long soak removes the flavour along with the salt.
Yes, but almost all of them work by appointment rather than drop-in. Donnafugata runs guided visits at set times in season; De Bartoli, Pellegrino, Abraxas and Coste Ghirlanda all receive visitors by arrangement. Book ahead in August, and bring a driver — the cellars are inland and none is walkable from town.
Recent editions have been held in September at Punta San Leonardo near Pantelleria Town, with a guided national-park walk in the morning and tastings, talks and music into the evening; the 2025 edition was the fourth. Dates move each year, so check the Comune’s event listings before booking.