The boom in “sea food” at the Circeo dates back to the 50s, when the demand for sea products grew by way of the arrival of the “VIPs”, in most of the cinema environment, recalled by the proximity to Rome and the possibility of building elegant and exclusive villas by the sea on the slopes of the promontory.
Until then, in fact, the Sanfeliciani had looked with suspicion on the open sea and, at the limit, they had consumed fish and clams from the Lake of Paola, a much calmer water mirror than the currents that beat the coasts.
But the sea offered them two products easy to harvest: cockles and razor clams .
The cockles are a semi-unknown delicacy of traditional Italian cuisine: very popular since ancient Roman times, Tellina maintains a fishing tradition that has been preserved to this day. Harvesting takes place with rakes mounted on small coastal fishing boats that come into the sea from dawn until noon exclusively on calm days.
The razor clams , however, gather in the low tide areas using a tiny harpoon with which infilzarli and extract them from their galleries, up to 25-30 cm deep, recognizable by the presence of a hole from which to draw the water that serves to live. Once caught they contain a lot of sand, so they require careful cleaning before consumption.
Both good, very different, the food of the poor of yesterday has today become a product for refined palates.
