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Friday, 15 May 2015

Sagre #3- Marta Lattarino Festival





Another week, another delicious food festival to celebrate in good ol’ Italia. This week we’re giving you a glimpse into the Sagra del Lattarino – which isn’t a million miles away from Camogli’s fish festival.




Lattarino – or “atherina boyeri” if you insist on calling them by their biological name – are tiny silver fish which live in a number of the lakes in central Italy. The festival celebrating them takes place in Marta, a little town on the shores of Lake Bolsena, in Latium, northwest of Rome. Marta has had a thriving fish industry for centuries, as well as producing olive oil and a wine called Cannaiola, which means “warbler”. Sweet. This very specific sagra came into being in the 1980s, when a group of locals decided it would be appropriate to have a festival marking their appreciation for their environment and the gastronomic delights offered by the lake.





As with Camogli’s festival, the Sagra del Lattarino is a great occasion for (mostly local) people to come together and celebrate food. Again there is an enormous pan involved, though not as big as Camogli’s – sorry Marta! The little silver fish are coated in flour then fried and handed out among all those present. The festival costs about 10 euros to attend and as well as the fish there are fried “pizzetta” or mini pizzas, lemon bread, cheese, pastries and wine. You can’t say the Italians don’t know how to live, eh? 




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