A STORY OF FAMILY, SEA AND CUISINE
Al Trabucco is the outcome of a family history – the Ottaviano family. Carlo, Rossella, Domenico and Vincenzo are the heirs and witnesses of Mimì and Lucia’s dream: to turn a place made of bare rock, challenging fishing and frightening storms into a welcoming place, where one can lose track of time and cradle in poignant sunsets and succulent culinary preparations.
Our Trabucco is almost a hundred years old. For a hundred years we’ve been following the traditional method of “on-sight”, which has been used for mullet and bluefish fishing. Even today, at certain hours of the day, it is possible to witness those exciting moments that follow the sighting of the lookout balancing on the mast: “Viijr!” (turn!) shouts the lookout, and the crew pushes the two mighty capstans, lifting the large net from the waters filled with the catch of the day.
Here, we’ve been cooking since 1975, when Mimì and Lucia returned from Canada to Peschici with the idea of refurbishing the family’s old trebuchet. From a small family nest, they began to prepare simple and traditional dishes to offer to the first guests and bathers who climbed the rocks every day to watch the fishing activities.
Al Trabucco is not just a simple trabucco: it represents a break, a soul running free, a landing place for travelers, walkers, explorers and artists. It is the place where you can still enjoy a slow pace of life, while marveling at the sight of a local animal, enchanted by the sunset with your gaze fixed on cliffs being whipped by the mistral. It is the place that you one day, almost by chance, arrived at – without knowing that, somehow, you’ve always carried it inside.
