"Alice per le Amiche"

In Comacchio live special friends, who work with special anchovies in a special way.

Their home is the Manifattura Marinati, the historic factory where eels are processed, a magical place with vast rooms featuring wooden trusses for ceilings, chimneys as large as buildings, the smell of vinegar, and wooden barrels that seem to touch the clouds.

"What you inherit from your Fathers, earn it again to possess it." J. W .Goethe

Here, 'the Anguilla crew' works on the fish one by one, using ancient and painstaking techniques that waste a lot of time. Yet, that time is not wasted: 1) because the products are exceptional, just like the ones our grandparents used to make, dedicating care, love, and patience; 2) because it is an opportunity to educate ourselves in work and in the beauty of reality.

Because in the Manifattura, it's not just fish that is worked, but mostly People.

The fish is indeed the product, but it is a tool to carry out a greater mission. And so, the fishermen lead guided tours where they pass down —not the history made of dates and events— but the meaning of history, what it has to say to us today, what we need to "earn it again to possess it".

Because for the fishermen, it's no longer just about marinating: they write, they organize exhibitions, they host workshops, they welcome friends to grand parties where people eat, drink, sing, and come together to celebrate with gratitude an adventure

Manifattura is a factory of People who, among other things, make fish. And for them, I will make fish!

I will make small anchovies, just like they make “alici per gli amici” (anchovies for friends), and, in addition to making a fond and affectionate plagiarism, since my name is Alice, I will also make a big pun and call them 'Alice for the friends' (in italian: Alice per le Amiche).

It’s funny that it’s precisely a fish talking about them, yet the fish has a lot to say, even though it’s the mute par excellence...