The 23rd edition closes with around 96,000 attendees and 20% growth. But beyond the numbers, Vinòforum confirms above all a clear direction: less simple exhibition, more immersive storytelling through wine, cuisine, territories and major tastings.
Ninety-six thousand attendees say a great deal, but not everything. To truly understand what Vinòforum has become, it is probably necessary to look beyond the final figure and observe what happens while walking through Piazza di Siena: producers and territories, restaurateurs and pizza makers, major tastings and cuisine, passionate visitors and industry professionals moving within an event that has gradually changed its identity over the years.
The 23rd edition of Vinòforum closed with a 20% increase in visitors and an overall attendance of around 96,000 people, including the public, exhibitors, professionals and press. An important figure, certainly, but above all the result of a format that has progressively expanded its boundaries, evolving from an event focused mainly on wine into a major platform for food and wine.
Emiliano De Venuti, organiser of the event, sums it up well when he describes this year’s offering as “much more immersive than in previous years”, built around restaurants, wine and territories. An evolution that, he explains, comes from “years of work, experience and listening to both the public and the industry”.
And perhaps this ability to listen is one of the key reasons behind Vinòforum’s growth. Wine remains at the centre, but it no longer stands alone. It interacts with food, producers, kitchens, denominations and the territories from which it comes.
“We always promote the idea that good wine should be enjoyed with good food,” De Venuti says. A simple statement that, in reality, captures much of the philosophy behind the event.
During the 2026 edition, more than forty restaurants and sixty chefs and master pizza makers joined the wineries taking part. The 21 Temporary Restaurants brought a significant part of Rome and Lazio’s restaurant scene into the event, while the Night Dinners featured a different culinary personality each evening.
Pizza also played an increasingly important role, no longer as a simple complementary presence but as a genuine gastronomic language within the event. The Pizze d’Autore dinners explored different doughs, techniques and interpretations, while the final evening hosted the final of La Città della Pizza 2026.
The winner was Vittorio Caradonio of Spunzillo & Lucariello in Turin, with his Sottobosco pizza, built around charcoal-grilled potatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano, mushrooms, Campanian buffalo mozzarella, Caciocavallo di Agnone, Molise summer black truffle and extra virgin olive oil from Sannio.
The heart of Vinòforum, however, inevitably remains wine. The 2026 edition brought together wineries from numerous Italian regions, placing well-known denominations alongside less familiar territories and producers. Friuli, Lazio, Calabria, Marche, Abruzzo, Langhe and Barolo all found space alongside international presences from Spain and Georgia.
Particularly significant was the programme of Wine Top Tastings, hosted in the Wine Theatre and in several other areas of the event. These tastings sold out and probably represent one of the most effective ways of taking visitors beyond the occasional tasting and towards a deeper understanding of producers, grape varieties and territories.
And it is precisely the concept of territory that seems to have emerged more strongly than in previous editions. Not simply as the geographical origin of a wine, but as a more complex narrative made up of products, gastronomy, people and identity.
This was complemented by masterclasses dedicated to some of the emblematic products of Italian food culture, from Parmigiano Reggiano to extra virgin olive oil, completing a journey that now reaches well beyond the strictly oenological sphere.
Then there is Piazza di Siena.
For the second consecutive year, the heart of Villa Borghese hosted Vinòforum, clearly shaping the perception of the event. Not simply an exhibition space, but a setting that gives the festival an almost urban dimension, where walking, stopping, tasting and meeting producers all become part of the experience.
De Venuti describes it as “magical”. Beyond the adjective itself, it is difficult not to recognise how much the location has influenced the transformation of the format. Vinòforum today feels less like a traditional trade fair and more like a large, open and immersive food-and-wine narrative.
After twenty-three editions, perhaps this is the most interesting challenge of all: continuing to talk about wine without confining it to the glass.
Because the 96,000 attendees capture the event’s quantitative success. But what seems to emerge most clearly from Vinòforum 2026 is a direction: the public is no longer looking only for labels to taste. People are looking for stories, territories, cuisine, people and opportunities to understand what they are drinking.
And Piazza di Siena, for at least a few days, became the place where all these elements tried to come together.
