Il Cacciucco (fish soup) is the prince of dishes from the Livornian kitchen. Let’s say that if it’s made really well, it is quite pricey, one can back it up with a glass of strong rough red wine which doesn’t constitute a sin, on the contrary it helps. Although asked for daily it’s not possible to fit it into the restaurants’ menus every day, in fact a set day is dedicated to it.
And another thing: it’s not easy to cook nor eat. Its origins are of meager Levantine memory: Turkish or thereabouts, and it is the dish that best represents the Livornese bunch: A blend of different ingredients with diverse cooking times (and cultures) different yet so nicely amalgamated together in a single bowl, unique and thrilling. Fish, crispy bread, garlic, tomato, chillies and fish bones, lots of fish bones, that could become a mammoth task for outsiders but so be it, otherwise one can go and eat a dull and boneless fish soup somewhere else lacking in love and passion.
