A Day Among Ligurian Ceramics: A Trip to Albissola Marina

Walking along a kilometre-long mosaic made by artists such as Lucio Fontana, Roberto Crippa, Giuseppe Capogrossi and Aligi Sassu, all beneath a dense row of cheerful palms with the crystal-clear blue of the sea glimpsed behind them: to enjoy this wonderful experience you just have to go to Albissola Marina. The Lungomare degli Artisti is indeed the first stop of our trip to this town on the Western Ligurian Riviera, founded by the Ingauni Ligurians in prehistoric times. Created in 1963, the route of artistic mosaics is among the symbols of Albissola Marina, a place known around the world for centuries for its ceramics, whose production had begun in 1122. Venturing into the historic centre, we discover one of the most characteristic villages of the Riviera, with caruggi winding through a kaleidoscope of vivid Ligurian colours, keeping the old medieval atmospheres intact.

Ceramists' shops and workshops appear just about everywhere and inside them you admire an infinite number of handmade objects, often in blue and white, recalling the splendour of the sea. Before us, many illustrious travellers had come to Albissola, and one of them is even “spoken of” by a crocodile: the one made by Lucio Fontana for the historic Giuseppe Mazzotti Manifattura Ceramiche. The life-size sculptural reptile is now displayed in the Garden Museum of the Manifattura, as a symbol of the era when many Futurists, including the founder of the movement himself, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, often visited Albissola Marina to create ceramic works at the Manifattura Mazzotti.

During our walk we also visit the sixteenth-century Parish Church of Nostra Signora della Concordia, admiring, besides its Baroque façade built in the twentieth century and the wide churchyard with white and black stripes in pure Ligurian style, several valuable works of art kept inside. On the same evocative square stands the Oratory of San Giuseppe, built in the seventeenth century. In Albissola Marina there is also a piece of Novara: Villa Faraggiana, today a venue for art exhibitions, built in the eighteenth century as the residence of the Durazzo family, later left to the Municipality of Novara by its last owner Alessandro Faraggiana. Having wandered far and wide through this lovely seaside town, we decide to stop for dinner at a characteristic place, the Restaurant Pizzeria Au Caruggiu, in Via Isola.

As soon as we go in, we notice on the walls the many awards won by the owner Nicolò Angileri, including a world championship title in the Creative Pizza category won in Las Vegas and two third places at the Italian Chef Wars. But we chose this restaurant for an even more important reason: in our group there are three coeliacs, and here every dish offered can be made gluten-free. Not only that: chatting with Mr Angileri, we discover that he founded a company producing high-quality foods using gluten-free raw materials: Gluten out, as the brand says. “The secret of our cooking is the care and love with which we prepare the dishes, both the pizzas and the restaurant specialities. To make a good pizza, a long rising is essential,” the owner explains to us.

The first delicacies we taste are fresh focaccia rolls with red sesame seeds, as Sicilian tradition dictates, given Mr Angileri's origins in Marsala. We continue with the mussel and clam stew with fresh tomato, a mixed starter of stuffed squid, drowned baby octopus, mussel and clam stew and octopus salad. Among the first courses we choose the bucatini with sardines Sicilian-style, the seafood risotto, the potato gnocchetti with a taste of the sea and the Mare e Monti tagliatelle with clams, courgettes, porcini mushrooms and prawns. We follow these delicious first courses with sea bream filleted in a courgette crust, while some of us enjoy the sea bream baked in foil with Albenga artichokes, pine nuts and pitted Taggiasca olives. We all taste the house speciality: grilled octopus with potatoes.

We wash it all down with wines selected from about 320 labels, including wines with an alcohol content of 9.50 for mindful drinking. Our friends who chose pizzas, meanwhile, enjoy among others the “Italia 90” and the Mundial. But the star is the “Au Caruggiu” pizza, with tomato, garlic, parsley, mussels, clams, squid, prawns and scampi. Our day in Albissola Marina ends among a series of sweet temptations we cannot resist: first of all, the Sicilian cassata without candied fruit, made with fresh sheep's ricotta and chocolate chips, then some tarts with jam, oranges and almonds, and with jam, peaches and amaretti, and the Pan di Spagna cake with ricotta, crushed pistachios and pistachio icing.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

Ristorante Au Caruggiu Via Isola, 12 Albissola Marina (SV) Tel.: 019/485252