We review the role of the QCD vacuum structure in the determination of the properties of states and processes occurring in the confinement regime of QCD. The vacuum correlation model of non-perturbative QCD is mentioned as a bridge between the fundamental theory and the description of the experiments. The model of the stochastic vacuum provides the framework in which a simple and effective description of the high-energy pp and p data can be given, leading to a determination of relevant parameters of non-perturbative QCD and to a good description of the data. A slow increase of the hadronic radii with the energy accounts for the energy dependence of all observables.