Sea Gastronomy

Simple ingredients and a very ancient tradition passed down from generation to another make the South Pontino’s cuisine a very valuable and palatable heritage’s symbol for the Land of Aeneas and Ulysses. For many, the sea is the real protagonist of Gaeta, Formia and Terracina’s traditional cuisine: locally caught fish provides many ancient recipes such as fried fish, grilled prawns and the queen of all local sea dishes, the renowned local fish soup.

               Sea Food

The fish soup is usually seasonal as many of the fish to prepare it is not always found out of season. You will find the excellent soup with grilled slices of rustic bread at the bottom so that the bread will absorb part of the flavoursome soup and will be a dish itself.

The blue sea provides the main ingredients of the most well-known local dishes such us the Risotto alla pescatora (seafood risotto) as well as various types of fish , such as sea bream, bass, langoustines, which are cooked in hundred different ways. The inviting smell of fish-based local ‘tiella’ – a kind of savoury pie made according to an ancient recipe, enriched by the local delicious vegetables, anchovies or baby octopus and other seafood as well as the little dark Gaeta olives is often around the streets and squares in the centre of Gaeta when the pies are turned out of the bakers’ oven.

The sea between the southern Lazio and the Pontine Islands provide excellent lobsters, crabs, eels, weaver fish as well as octopus, barber fish, the local Pezzogna fish. Visitors to Ventonene Island should not miss the aromatic and rich flavour of the local lentil soup made with endemic, minuscule home-grown lentils or the aroma of this island wild rocket. I included this in the sea gastronomy as this soup is found only here in the middle of the South Tyrrhenian Sea.

But lets not forget other specialties from the sea: a large variety of fish can be prepared according to old fishermen’s own recipes, such as their highly recommended stewed octopus and pasta with sardines. Local cuisine is tied both to the sea, plenty of fresh fish often accompanied by fresh, excellent vegetables. Fried fish should also be a must for seafood lovers: mullets, cod, bass, shrimps and crayfish just to mention some.

A simple and tasty seafood shellfish like mussels, local clams and a local shellfish, the tellina, are all used to season linguine or spaghetti in one of the most traditional and ancient dish with scent of extra-virgin olive oil, fresh grounded black pepper and fresh (of course) parsley.