The typical local recipes reached the tables of homes and restaurants in Fano through long routes, coming straight from the boats of fishermen. The tie linking Fano and fishing is indeed visible better than anywhere else precisely in the kitchen. Good mariners had also to be cooks capable of making do in the long days they spent at sea. The most typical dish of Fano is precisely that Brodetto that restored fishermen from the work strain. This soup of “poor” fish, whose difference from similar recipes, common in Marche, is the use of tomato preserve and vinegar, in time began a refined dish and the protagonist of the annual International Festival of Brodetto and of Fish Soups, and event meant to promote the whole fishing industry. The marine tradition is also at the roots of the PesceAzzurro restaurant, which developed into a chain, whose origin lies in the convivial attitude of fishermen to share seafood with the Fano families. As soon as the nets were recovered aboard, the catch, from fried sardines to “pureta” clams, from brodetto to fish grilled on a “fugon”, were cooked and tested while still smelling like the sea. A cooperative of fishermen did therefore create this restaurant which recreates the cheerful atmosphere of that time and offers cheap but high quality fresh seafood. After eating that much, fishermen needed something to close the meal and, most of all, to encourage them in view of the long nights they would spend scanning the sea bottom. That is why, along with the necessity to avoid wasting even a drop of a bottle of liquor, what today is called “Maretta” was created: a coffee with a splash of anisette, rum and brandy. Its three layers of liquor, coffee and cream are a tempting announcement of a sweet and strong taste. Taste it with closed eyes and it will make you imagine the waves shaking the keel of the boats where it was created. The enogastronomic offer of the city is not limited to seafood only, but includes also such farmland products as the Bianchello del Metauro wine and the DOP Cartoceto olive oil, coming from the magnificent Metauro valley that is strictly linked to Fano, its natural access to the sea.
PesceAzzurro Fano