The Colatura Trail: Cetara's Liquid Gold

In the fishing village of Cetara, population 2,000, they make a sauce that chefs across Italy will pay almost anything for. It's called colatura di alici — anchovy extract — and its story starts two thousand years ago.

The Romans called it garum. They made it everywhere around the Mediterranean — fermenting fish guts in stone vats under the sun until they liquefied into a potent, amber-colored sauce. When Rome fell, garum vanished from most of Europe. But not from Cetara.

The fishermen of Cetara never stopped making it. They just changed the fish. Instead of miscellaneous guts, they used only the finest anchovies — alici di Cetara — caught in traditional nets (the cianciolo) in the waters between Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

THE PROCESS

Fresh anchovies are beheaded, gutted, and layered with coarse sea salt in chestnut wood barrels called terzigni. A wooden disc is placed on top, weighted with heavy stones. The fish ferment for 12 to 24 months in cool cellars.

During fermentation, the salt draws liquid from the fish. This liquid filters slowly through the layers, picking up flavor as it descends. At the bottom of the barrel, a small hole — the vriale — releases the amber extract drop by drop.

That extract is colatura. It tastes like the sea concentrated into a single drop — intensely savory, deeply complex, with notes of dried flowers and aged cheese. A few drops transform a plate of spaghetti into something transcendent.

WHERE TO TASTE IT

At Al Convento in Cetara, the colatura is made in the restaurant's own cellars. Order the spaghetti con la colatura — aglio, olio, peperoncino, and a generous splash of the amber liquid. It's the signature dish of the entire coast, and you can only truly taste it at the source.

The best time to visit is December, when the new season's colatura is released. The town holds a festival — Notte della Colatura — and the entire village celebrates with tastings, music, and midnight spaghetti.