A SCULPTOR AND A QUARRIER'S SNACK

Today the name of happy hour is given to the informal way of dining on canapé together with the aperitif. A fashion that has caught on throughout the whole of the Versilia. But on our coast happy hour has a noble anscestor, which is very much a habit today and still thriving. It is merendare, or that is to say having a snack at about 5 pm with salami, biroldo, pane sciocco (unsalted bread), characteristic of Tuscany and local marinated olives. All washed down with red wine from Strettoia (a small village surrounded with vineyards, situated on a hill that overlooks Forte dei Marmi) or with white wine from Candia, Controlled Denomination of Origin (authenticated trademark for wines) in the area of Massa. Snacks used to be eaten in taverns by quarrymen and sculptors from Pietrasanta or whoever worked in marble in general. They left the studio or the quarry and stopped to have a drink to help their throats which had by that time become dry from the marble dust. But around the wine, paid for by measure, there were various pick-meups including marinated anchovies and hot fried baccalà (dried cod). Today having a snack is still greatly enjoyed even if paying for house wine according to how much you drink has been replaced with bottles of great red Tuscan wines and sparkling white wines. And moreover, today, the old taverns between Pietrasanta, Seravezza and Stazzema have even changed their names to wine bars. .