• Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Italian Notes
  • HOME
  • PEOPLE & PLACES
    • Abruzzo
    • Basilicata
    • Calabria
    • Campania
    • Emilia-Romagna
    • Friuli-Venezia Giulia
    • Lazio
    • Liguria
    • Lombardia-Lombardy
    • Marche
    • Molise
    • Piemonte-Piedmont
    • Puglia – Apulia
    • Sicilia
    • Toscana-Tuscany
    • Trentino-Alto Adige – Trentino-South Tyrol
    • Umbria
    • Veneto
  • FOOD
    • Antipasti
    • Primi piatti
    • Secondi piatti
    • Dolci
  • PR/ADVERTISING
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Big Fish in Porto Garibaldi

Early every morning fishing boats return to Porto Garibaldi accompanied by a cloud of seagulls. But fish are not Porto Garibaldi’s only claim to fame.

Originally Porto Garibaldi was just a marsh in the Po delta, but the history of the place changed in August 1849, when the legendary Garibaldi and his 28 year old Brazilian wife and comrade in arms fled from the papal police and the Austrian army. Anita, who was the mother of Garibaldi’s four children, was pregnant and sick with malaria and the skilled horsewoman had to ride in a slow cart pulled by a pair of oxen.

The death of a heroine

Some local fishers on the Adriatic coast were persuaded to help the refugees, who were trying the reach Venice, but they were cut off by the Austrian navy and had to disembark near Comacchio and continue over land. In the marshes, Anita lost consciousness and Garibaldi and his loyal friend had to carry her on an old mattress. At last they found shelter and water at a farmhouse in Mandriole, but Anita died shortly afterwards.

She was hurriedly buried in a shallow grave, while Garibaldi continued his flight. A few days later playing children discovered Anita’s arm protruding from the sand, she was exhumed and given a proper burial at the local cemetery. Subsequently her remains were moved to Nice and Genoa and finally to Rome, where they erected an equestrian monument in her honour.

Fascinating fishing houses

In Porto Garibaldi, there are few traces of this important historic event apart from the name, which was changed from Porto di Magnavacca in 1919. The fishing village still has a lively harbour and in summer holiday-makers flock the beaches along the coast.

The most fascinating thing, however, are the rows of fishing houses that look like the trabucchi  used in Abruzzo, Molise and Gargano with their long, balanced poles and nets waiting to be lowered and pulled up with a catch of carp. As if the fish in these brackish waters are so plenty they can be scooped up on the dinner table at any time anyone feels hungry for more in Porto Garibaldi.

Porto Garibaldi
Porto Garibaldi
Porto Garibaldi
Porto Garibaldi
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
Maps were disabled by the visitor on this site. Click to open the map in a new window.
6 replies
  1. Agata
    Agata says:
    April 13, 2015 at 4:18 pm

    I didn’t know this story! And, obviously, I’ve been in Porto Garibaldi so many times!

    Reply
    • Mette Vaabengaard
      Mette Vaabengaard says:
      April 13, 2015 at 7:06 pm

      Yes, I know people from Ferrara, Bologna, Imola and Ravenna – and a great many tourists – use this part of the Adriatic coast as their outdoor playground.

      Reply
  2. Muza-chan
    Muza-chan says:
    April 14, 2015 at 7:16 am

    Lovely place…

    Reply
    • Mette Vaabengaard
      Mette Vaabengaard says:
      April 15, 2015 at 5:45 pm

      It is a very popular seaside resort.

      Reply
  3. Johann Mendelsöhn
    Johann Mendelsöhn says:
    April 27, 2016 at 7:05 am

    Thank you for this fascinating article. Like all your posts!

    Reply
    • Mette Vaabengaard
      Mette Vaabengaard says:
      May 2, 2016 at 5:30 pm

      Thank you. So good of you to spend a few minutes on letting me know. I really appreciate the feedback:)

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Followon TwitterSubscribeto RSS Feed

Booking

Booking.com

More about food

Antipasti recipes - Italian NotesANTIPASTI RECIPES

Primi Piatti - Italian Notes

PRIMI PIATTI

Secondi piatti - Italian Notes

SECONDI PIATTI

Dolci - Italian Notes

DOLCI

Italian rice cakeItalian rice cakeBeet flan with goat cheeseBeet flan with goat cheese
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settingsHide notification only