Fire, Wine, and Witches. Year Thirteen.

Every June 23rd, the park at Villa Cialdini in Castelvetro di Modena fills with people who know something good is happening. There is no dress code. No keynote. No awards ceremony. Just a long summer evening with serious wine, outstanding food, live performance, and a reason to be generous — the kind of night that doesn't need much explaining once you've been.

Streghe di Vino e di Verso has been running since 2011, built around a single idea: that the eve of San Giovanni — the old Emilian midsummer night when fires are lit, nocino is made from green walnuts, and folklore says the witches take hold of the natural world until dawn — is exactly the right occasion to drink well and give something back.

Marina Bersani, who owns Archer bistrot-enoteca in Modena, created it. The Chiarli family, Lambrusco producers since 1860, opened their estate. Thirteen years later, both are still here. So is the cause.

Entry to the evening is open to everyone: €80 minimum, every cent of which goes to ASEOP, which supports families navigating pediatric cancer, and ANFFAS, which works with people with intellectual and relational disabilities and their families. No organisational cut. No exceptions. Generosity at its best.

This year, the wine list got interesting. Streghe has always been curated by instinct: Marina's personal relationships with producers, her sense of what deserves to be poured. That hasn't changed. What has changed is scope. For the second year, a selection of specialist distributors has been invited to bring wines from their own portfolios alongside the producers. Not as vendors. As voices with a point of view.

Two of those voices are Cuzziol Grandi Vini and Velier Triple A: distributors who spend their working lives hunting down producers most people haven't heard of yet. Their presence shifts the evening's geography considerably. Add the artisans and artists to an already outstanding cast: Franciacorta and Trentodoc in the same room as Lambrusco Metodo Classico. The iron-and-brine wines of the Carso. Organic Trentino. Serious Piedmont. Ca' del Bosco, Ferrari Trento, Cavalleri, Zidarich, Cesconi, Rocche dei Manzoni, Marziano Abbona, Cleto Chiarli, Quintopasso… and more.

The novelty is the far reach, and also what's closer to our heart and territory: a curated selection of producers from the newly-formed Custodi di Lambrusco will bring a broader selection of quality Lambrusco wines.

On the food side: more than twenty-five producers, from Galloni Prosciutti and Caseificio Il Malandrone to Bodrato Cioccolato and Cremeria Capolinea. The kind of spread that makes choosing difficult, in the best possible way. Acrobatic performers, musicians, and a general sense that the night could go anywhere complete the picture.

Place your donation at the door from 7 p.m., or with Marina Bersani at Archer Modena until Monday, June 22nd. For more information, please contact Archer Modena.

The philanthropy hasn't changed. The ambition has. Do good, imbibe ever better.

Streghe di Vino e di Verso — June 23rd · Villa Cialdini, Castelvetro di Modena. €80 minimum entry · All proceeds to ASEOP and ANFFAS.