Ancient fishing traditions from the beaches of the Mare Grande and Mare Piccolo and the fishing of excellences of Tropea: u surici
The beach, which accompanies the seaside of the Scoglio di Santa Maria dell’Isola, owes its name to its shape, narrow and long like a tongue, which ends with the cave bearing the same name. Easily accessible from the seafront, it has white sand and a rocky seabed with very interesting flora and fauna. Off this beach many fish species are fished.
The Tropean ethnographer Giuseppe Chiapparo, in 1956, provided a long list of fish, of the tools used to catch them and the months in which the fishing season takes place, mentioning anchovies, squid, octopus, cuttlefish, shrimp, snapper and mullet.
Special mention deserves, as a typical tenant of the Tropean sea, “u surici”, that is the scallop fish, characterized by reddish skin, flattened shape and delicious white flesh.
