Manufacture of Marinati: the rebirth of tradition

The city of Comacchio has its economic roots in fishing and the processing of eel. This fish, in fact, lives in the brackish valleys of Comacchio, where it finds a perfect habitat for its reproduction.

The recovery of the ancient Manifattura dei Marinati keeps alive the culture and history of eel processing.

This ancient complex is not just a museum open to the public, but in the months from October to December it is also an active factory for processing eels, anchovies, sardines, and marinated water, according to the processing methods of ancient tradition. The processed fish are then packaged in the typical cans of the past.

The autumn period is the most favorable for eel fishing and in this context it is possible to observe the cooking and processing phases of the fish. The latter is cleaned of head and tail and threaded onto long skewers to be then roasted in front of the twelve perfectly preserved chimneys in the great Sala dei Fuochi, the central heart of the laboratory. The large factory complex spans over sixteen hundred meters of land.

The main areas are 3:

• Sala dei Fuochi, which preserves the twelve chimneys where the marinated eel is processed and roasted using the same techniques used in antiquity;

• Calata or Fossa, where the boats arrive ready to unload the catch;

• Sala degli aceti, where the vats and barrels that preserved the vinegars used to produce the brine necessary for preserving marinated fish are present. This room still retains its original state.

Inside the complex, in addition to the entire processing process, it is also possible to observe some hulls of historical boats:

• Cinque Vulicipi, a lightweight and streamlined boat suitable for quick movements on the water, used for poaching;

• A Burchiella, a typical working boat from Comacchio;

• Bolaghe, circular traps made of willow branches, in which freshly caught eels were placed;

• Marotte and Marottine, wooden containers enclosed by an iron net, where eels were kept waiting to be sold or processed.

​È also a multimedia space with a documentary film representation of the time that illustrates the history of the eel and the valleys in which it lives and reproduces.

If you are visiting Comacchio and staying at the Florenz Open Air Resort, you cannot miss a visit to the Manifattura dei Marinati museum-laboratory which brings to light the Comacchio tradition of marinated eel processing, an ancient economic hub of the town.