By Vito Cinque

In the last two days I have read a number of articles in which squid were the main protagonists and it got me thinking back to my childhood and how quickly times are changing. I sincerely hope that the warming temperature of the sea is due to temporary conditions and I also hope that fishing can become more aware and less intensive. This cephalopod, the “totano”, eclectic and almost mysterious, inevitably takes me back in time.

As a child, I often hung out on the beach with Mr. Vincenzo Ferraioli, also known as “Vincenzo the chiouv” because he was as thin as a nail. He had a concession on a small strip of the Spiaggia Grande in Positano where he sat with one large blue umbrella, an equally blue table and his yellow sign. Vincenzo rented the Sorrento wooden boats, obviously also blue, some with oars and others with motors, the most powerful engine being a 7.5 horsepower Evinrude.

He taught me how to swim and row. At midday, lunch would arrive for Vincenzo and his collaborators, announced by the sound of the clogs worn by Luigi Gambardella, Vincenzo’s nephew, as he went down the famous longa longa staircase in Murolo’s song, carrying the “maccaturo”. The maccaturo, for those who did not have the privilege of living through those years, is a huge platter, better described as a bowl-like salad dish where the pasta was placed and then covered with a large flat plate to keep it warm. The whole thing was wrapped in a cloth tied at the four corners for easy transport.

I’m telling you all this because it was there, under that blue beach umbrella at 9 years old, that I ate spaghetti with the small “totani” squid for the first time, expertly cooked by Angelina, Vincenzo’s wife. How she managed to get the spaghetti “al dente” is still a mystery to me. It was the incredible flavor of that pasta, along with some dishes cooked by my grandfather, that are imbedded in my sensory memory. Vincenzo loved me. He was a man who had lived through two wars and though he seemed cranky and inhospitable to some, deep down he had a heart of gold. I only ever ate spaghetti with winter squid sauce with Vincenzo and Angelina. Winter squid is simply homemade preserved tomato sauce with the smallest totani that were cooked during the sterilisation phase of the tomato jars.

In fact, these small squid are fished around the same time as the tomatoes are harvested and the potatoes are dug up. So it is no coincidence that the two best known ingredients accompanying totani dishes are tomatoes and potatoes. The famous totani and potato dish, perhaps made more famous in Capri, actually originates from the small town of Praiano, Positano’s closest neighbour. 

Anyway, I am doubly indebted to this cephalopod because as a teenager, we would invite the tourists to come fishing for squid. We’d set off at sunset equipped with everything we needed, including drinks, sandwiches and above all, a lot of enthusiasm. We floated in the middle of the sea, looked at the stars, listened to the waves splashing against the side of the boat, we gazed into each other’s eyes and that’s how first loves were born. Maybe we even managed to catch some totani, which we cooked and ate right there on the beach upon our return.