A traditional “Fritto misto” included small and whole fish, that is “papaline, sardoni, sarde, sfogetti, passarini, moeche, peoci, schie”, in a word local and cheap products. Today you would be surprised to see what touristy restaurants serve for the same dish: mainly frozen fish like calamari rings, scampi tails or prawns, maybe fresh anchovies. Loris added a detail: Scampi were not an ingredient of the Fritto misto. They were caught in Sicily, and due to the large amount of it, they were used to fill the hollow spaces of the wooden boxes loaded with tunas for exportation, so they would stay still.

Scampi looked beautiful, bright orange with long white claws, and were scattered on the fish to attract clients, who weren’t interested in buying, so before closing down scampi were given for free to the last customer. With the time scampi become more expensive, due to their likeness with lobsters and untill ten years ago they were imported from Yogoslavia, where the national authorities were not aware of the quality, which was much better than the Italian ones. With the advent of Croatia, prices went up too much and the importation decreased a lot.

According to Loris, there is another reason why Fritto misto has changed. As I said, it consisted of a combination of different kinds of fish, since traditionally the dish was served “a scotadeo”, that is “hot-finger way”. Fried food has to be eaten when ready, otherwise it gets soggy and looses the flavour. What they did was holding the hot fish with the fingers, open it, take the quill and the tail off, suck the head, and eat the rest with the skin on it! Considering that Lagoon waters were and still are shallow, fish was small, so how can you use knife and fork? Fingers were perfect, although not so fine……… Venetians don’t do it any more!

It is noteworthy to say that fish was on display as it was, the whole thing, you couln’t see any fillet. Women were able to clean and fillet all sorts of fish, and cook it the Venetian way, handed down from their mothers, and knew how to use the different parts of it. The ‘moscardini’, small pulps, were renowned for the brown and black innards you could find in the body, or you could cut out the ceeks of an ugly wide fishhead in order to prepare a delicate Risotto, a secret kept by a few fishermen only. A fish in particular was given for free after shopping: the “gò” or Lagoon Thumbfish, a small light brown fish that people could catch anywere, the Lagoon was plenty of it. The bad thing was the huge amount of bones in such a tiny body, but housewives had time enough to separate the soft white meat from the jelly bones and make one of the most typical main courses, the “Risotto coi Gò”. Today the average price for it is 13-15 E per kilo.

For sure the Venetians more rustic, and knew what hunger was from their relatives, when in the War years Venice was not supplied everyday with food. So whatever “la mama” cooked was fine, and she didn’t worry about the smell of fish throughout the apartment for days, the family would get used to it quickly.

Loris says, “the busiest day of the market was Friday, due to religious prescriptions, since Christ died on that day and therefore Christians are not allowed to eat meat. Venetians cooked “di magro” dishes, mainly seafood and vegetables. “ Vendors did their best in offering the premium fish at the market, they expected men and wifes together choosing the fish for the ‘Fritto misto’. It was common to see people queuing before the stalls and wait patiently for their turn.”

In truth fried food is not what you expect for “di magro”, being dipped in fat and served straight away. However traditions are subject to a certain modernization, so the main thing was the lack of meat on a plate. For the family the “Mixed fried seafood” was an event, the only dish served at dinner ’cause it was impossible to have more food, plates were plentiful and it was fun to clean and eat the crispy fish!

Surfing the Net, it is easy to find commentaries about the Rialto Fish market, most of them are enthusiastic about the atmosphere, the variety of the products, the quality of local food.

I perfectly agree with them, I chosed to live just a few steps from the market and today I couldn’t do without. But when you happen to spend some hours in company of a true expert, after a great meal and a good amount of alcohol in your veins, you realize how many things have changed over the decades, and how much they affected our lifestyle. You can check it in the menus of the restaurants, in the shelves of a wine bar, in the customers’ taste and demand. Just connect data, and you’ll go beyond appereances.

These are the feelings which followed a casual conversation with Loris Manna, a friend and collaborator, about the Rialto Fish Market in a hot summer day. He has worked there for 24 years, starting from scratch, first by delivering fish to Trattorias, then by running his own stall till some years ago. Now he’s in charge for a reputed restaurant in the Cannaregio district.

He started from the traditional customer, the Venetian housewife, not only because Loris simply adores women, but also ’cause of her role in the economy of the family. He said “They were a lot, the best buyers of the market, for sure 80% of those who shopped there, while the rest consisted of cooks who worked in Trattorias. Women very knowledgeable about seasonal products, the Lagoon and the Adriatic ones, the freshness, and cared for the quality of food” But how much imported fish was on sale at the Rialto? According to Loris, very few, imported mainly from the Mediterranean around Sicily, which provided the best Tuna and Swordfish. Today you can read on the labels “Pesce nostrano” -local fish-, an expression already used by the Romans who called the Mediterranean Sea “Mare Nostrum”. In truth “nostrano” is referred to the fish caught nearby Venice, which in the old days of the Serenissima was “the Gulf of Venice”.