Some Facts and a Little History

Italy is water-bound, with thousands of miles of beaches, bays, and inlets. Almost everything that lives in the sea finds its way to the table.

• The role of seafood in the diets of Italians has changed greatly over the centuries. Right up until 1965, the Catholic Church required that the faithful eat fish on both Fridays and days of penitence, for example during lent. All large cities had fishmongers to meet the demand, and there were traveling fishmongers who made the rounds of the towns too small to support a specialized store. To this day, many restaurants and households have maintained this tradition of consuming fish on Fridays and during Lent.