Every summer seafood lovers of Abruzzo rejoice at Cala Lenta, a wonderful event organised by Slow Food Lanciano. The fish and seafood bonanza takes place along the Costa dei Trabocchi, the stretch of the Adriatic famous for its traditional fishing machines called trabocchi. This year July 10-12 there will be many thematic dinners in restaurants, from Francavilla al Mare to San Salvo, and on five trabocchi, cooking demonstrations and a food market in San Vito Chietino where you can sample some of the best products from the province of Chieti.

The participating restaurants will be serving set menus that cost from €28 to €55 euro and will include some delicious traditional and innovative dishes. In Al Vecchio Teatro in Ortona, for instance, you can gorge on red mullet marinated in grape must and trinciatelli pasta made with the ancient grain of solina. Ristorante Essenza, San Vito Chietino, will serve pasta chitarrina with crabs and grilled mullet with local peppers. Are you drooling yet? Check out the menus and the Cala Lenta full programme here.

For a more authentic experience you can book a dinner on a participating trabocco. You can see the locations of the five of them on the graphic below. The fishermen will take their guests for a guided tour of the fishing machine and explain how they use them. Places on the trabocchi are limited, so hurry up to book for this weekend.