24th December
Abruzzo’s Night of Fish: Grazia la Marinara & Anna Maria, Women of the Adriatic
On Christmas Eve in Abruzzo, when baccalà, brodetto, and frying pans fill the air with their scents, the table overflows with tradition. Yet beyond the kitchens and church bells, the Adriatic holds a different story: one about women who chose the sea.
In Pescara, decades ago, there was Grazia Masciarelli, known as la marinara. While most people waited for the men to bring in their catch, Grazia pushed her own boat out from the sand. She rowed alone, set her own nets, and dragged the heavy hull back home with the strength of four men. People paused to watch, not because they were surprised, but because they recognized her determination. The town honored her with a bronze statue; her grit became part of the coastline.
Further down the shore in Casalbordino, there is Anna Maria Verzino, known as la sposa del mare, the bride of the sea. As a child, she learned to fish at dawn with her father. As an adult, she became one of the first women in Abruzzo to take the exams and earn her fishing licence. Even today, in her nineties, she still takes out her small boat, Gloria, coming back with her lines tangled in salt and wind. She walks the shoreline as if listening for a voice only she can hear.
Together, they serve as a kind of compass.
. Grazia points to the past, a woman who refused to be told her place.
. Anna Maria points to the present, showing that the sea still welcomes those who defy expectations.
So on the Night of Fish, the Vigilia, the ‘lean’ feast that became rich with meaning, remember that tradition is not just what we inherit, but also what people like Grazia and Anna Maria add to it. Their stories rest beside the bowls of seafood pasta and the smell of frying baccalà, silent guests at the table.
Because Abruzzo’s coast has never just been about the catch.
It’s about the courage to step into the tide when the tide says no.
And on this night of fish, these women remind us that there has always been space, even here in the heart of tradition, for those who move differently through the world.
