From gastronomy to roots: in Stintino "Asinara-Camogli-Ponza Program"

The "Asinara-Camogli-Ponza Program" was born from the reflections of the mayor Rita Vallebella and the studies of the food and wine expert Tommaso Sussarello, an ambitious cultural project that starts from the gastronomy of the sea to reconstruct the historical and identity map of the Stintino community.

Sussarello himself, the creator of the project, will follow its development together with chefs and experts, after having identified the cuisine as a true historical document, capable of telling the story of the Mediterranean of migrations, exchanges and deep ties.

The program will be revealed to the public during a double event, during the event "Stintino: a story to tell": the first presentation will be held on Friday 4 July at the Museo della Tonnara (MUT), while a second in-depth meeting is scheduled for Sunday 6 July at 6 pm at the Circolo Nautico Sottovento. The project has its roots in the history of the fishermen of Ligurian origin from Camogli who, in 1885, were expelled from Asinara and founded Stintino, bringing with them a heritage of recipes and knowledge handed down from a century of peaceful cohabitation with the Sardinian families from Nurresi. In the early 1900s, families of Ponza origin joined them. It is precisely this gastronomic "red thread" that the food and wine expert has traced and placed at the center of his research.

"Food is a never-ending journey," says Tommaso Sussarello. "In fish soups, in ways of preserving it or in traditions, we find traces of a centuries-old dialogue between the communities of Camogli, partially on the island of Ponza and Asinara. My goal is to make this dialogue readable, transforming it into a path of rediscovery that can generate new cultural and tourist synergies. This program wants to demonstrate that a recipe can unite more than a treaty."

Mayor Rita Vallebella said: "His research offers a fascinating and concrete key to understanding our identity. Putting gastronomy at the center means speaking a universal language of recovery of connections that honors the past and nourishes the future." The meeting on Sunday 6 July will see Tommaso Sussarello himself in dialogue with the municipal administration, the local navy and other food and wine experts to tell the story of the journey of food in the "mare nostrum".