Italian town loves deep-fried British dish so much, it holds a two-week festival dedicated to it

Daily Mail​

01-05-2025

When it comes to culinary styles, Scotland and Italy are, few would argue, poles apart - except for one corner of Tuscany that can't get enough of one of Britain's most popular dishes.
Every August, the hilltop town of Barga hosts its annual Fish and Chip festival, which admittedly sounds a little more cosmopolitan in Italian - 'Sagra del Pesce e Patate'.
Legions of locals turn up to dine on hearty portions of battered haddock and chips, doused in salt and vinegar - although it's unclear whether other chip shop favourites such as mushy peas, battered onion rings and pickled eggs make the cut.
How did the Tuscan town, which typically enjoys a diet of olive oil, pizza and pasta, fall in love with our own deep fried staple?
Italian immigration to Scotland in the early 20th century holds the key; many Barga residents upped sticks and sought a new life north of the English border.
While many of those who relocated to Scotland brought an Italian foodie favourite with them - gelato - and opened ice-cream stores, others found work in the most popular takeaway of the time, the humble chippie.
Scottish singer Paolo Nutini's family hail from the walled town, which lies around 45 minutes drive from Florence.
When they later returned home - either to visit family during the summer holidays - or relocated permanently, they taught those back in Barga how to recreate the fish and chips they'd been serving up... and the rest is history.
The Fish and Chip festival has now been running since the 1980s and one Scottish-Italian who attended last year praised it, writing on its Facebook page: 'Attended this year from Bonny Scotland.
'Had a great evening and delicious fish and chips thank you for your hospitality it was second to none. Another bucket list adventure ticked if our list.'
Another, this time an Englishman, added: 'From Yorkshire to Barga, again, we've returned for our second year. Thank you very much, Forza Barga!!'
On the menu, alongside a host of other Italian meals, is fish and chips, and another dish that possibly wouldn't make the menu in a down-to-earth Scottish chippie - fagiolie cipolla, a side dish made up of cannellini or borlotti beans and sliced red onions.
Barga hearts Scotland: A red telephone box also stands in the Italian town, which is in the region of Lucca in Tuscany
The festival this summer will be held from August 1st to August 17th in the town's AS Barga football stadium, which is named after the only Scottish-born male footballer to play for Italy, Johnny Moscardini.
Moscardini was born in Falkirk in 1897 and learned to play football in the streets near his family's café in Manor Street.
The family came from Barga and Moscardini enlisted in the Italian Army as a machine gunner, receiving a shrapnel wound to his left arm that restricted its movement until his death in 1985.
While recovering from his injury he played football with Lucchese, Pisa and Genoa, during which time he won nine international caps, scoring seven goals.
He played his last game for Italy against France on March 22, 1925, scoring twice in a 7-0 win. That year, however, he returned to Scotland to help run his uncle's Royal Cafe in Campbeltown.