Carrying on with Sagre month this
week and we have the Camogli Fish Festival, or the Sagra del Pesce, also known
as the “Fish Festival of Saint Fortunato” (patron saint of fishermen! Who knew?)
The festival started in 1952, born
out of a WW2 tradition of local fishermen’s wives offering fish to the Holy
Virgin as thanks for keeping them safe from the war. It takes place in Camogli,
a small port town near Portofino in Liguria, which is a coastal (duh) region in
North West Italy. Camogli is known as one of Liguria’s “best-kept secrets”,
with its colourful houses and beautiful beaches. It has managed to stay
reasonably free of mass tourism thanks to its lack of large carpark. How about
that?! It is nicknamed the “City of a Thousand White Sailing Ships” due to its
prestige as a large seaport in the Middle Ages which accommodated hundreds of
Tall Ships in its heyday, and is a 20-minute train-ride away from Liguria’s
capital of Genoa.
The festival consists,
essentially, of locals, visitors, and tourists being graced with free helpings
of fried fish. Over 30, 000 servings, or around 3 tonnes, of blue fish are
fried up by the fishermen themselved, in the world’s largest frying pan, which
measures 5 metres across and has a 7-metre-long handle.
The night before, there is a huge
firework display, and Camogli’s two neighbourhoods (Porto and Pinetto) compete
to see which can build a bigger bonfire. These bonfires – which are often up to
2 stories high - are then lit by a “fire-wire” which stretches down from the
church’s highest steeple! (Don’t worry though, the fire brigade is always at
hand, just in case!)
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