The marina is designed for fishing vessels and has several sections of protected docks. Some small boats were unloading the morning’s catch. The Adriatic is full of shellfish – primarily cozze (mussels) and vongole (clams), but also has plenty of smaller fish, shrimp, and squid. Blue net sacks containing hundreds and hundreds of tiny clams and whelks were being unloaded. Most of the men on the boats looked to be foreigners from North Africa, Pakistan, or elsewhere in the Middle East.
The primi, or pasta course, was pasta in a light cream sauce with bacon, walnuts, and spinach. Now, this was no ordinary pasta. The Italians call this shape of pasta strozzapreti which translates to “priest stranglers”. As you might expect, this dish was sinfully delicious! I has a glass of Coke, but Cinzia had a glass (or three) of a local white wine recommended by our server. It was called Passerina and Cinzia thought it was much better that the traditional Verdicchio that this region is famous for.