Abruzzo Trabocchi

August 02, 2017

ABRUZZO TRABOCCHI

By Morena Giannascoli

Long time ago, on the Adriatic coast, fishermen erected wooden constructions clinging to the rock to capture the best of the marine fauna. These fishing machines made of logs and ropes are called trabocchi, and they follow each other with the joy and whim of youth from Ortona to Fossacesia, a coastline that today represents one of the wonders of the Mediterranean: the Coast of Trabocchi. From the hills above them, among scented brooms, olive groves and vineyards rich in their precious fruits covering the landscape, you can see these strange creatures that from the coast stretch out to the sea through a wooden pier. They seem like spiders intent on running their feet in blue waters and with antennas protruding forward to find the best fish.

Over the years, many artists have represented the trabocchi in their works: painters, writers, photographers. Gabriele D'Annunzio also wrote: "The machine seemed to live a life of its own, to have an appearance and an effigy of an animated body. The wood, exposed for years and years in the sun, rain, and bursts, showed its fibers ... it broke, consumed, became as white as a tibia or shiny like silver or gray like flint, and acquired distinctive features as that of a person on whom old age and suffering had accomplished their cruel work ... ".

The trabocchi have existed from time immemorial and the first written testimonies claim that they were already in use in 1200. Here, just halfway between the coast and the deep water, in an attempt to conquer the sea, once lived the families of the fishermen and the trabocchi have been handed down from generation to generation over the years. In the post-war period they were gradually abandonment. However, in recent years they have had an extraordinary revival, they have been recovered and renewed and some of them have been transformed into restaurants. If you are lucky, you can attend the fishing rite when owners drop the umbrella fishing nets in front of their guests and when they are pulled up, the nets are full of fish. After that, the fresh fish is brought to the small kitchen located on the trabocco itself and excellently cooked and served with local wine and other delicacies, equally fresh and genuine.

Visit this stretch of Abruzzo and you will be amazed by its spectacular beauty. Its colours, from dawn to sunset, strike straight to the heart and make you fall in love with this unique place. Its flavours, light and rich at the same time, remain in the soul like the first kiss. Do not miss an experience that will change your life.

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