When Brits go on holiday to Italy one of their favourite things is the food of course. Pasta, pizza, ice-cream, regional delicacies, fresh fish, creamy cheeses and delicious desserts to name but a familiar few.
But in one pretty little town in Tuscany, if you close your eyes and just sniff, you might be forgiven for thinking you are back in the UK. The unmistakable whiff of fish and chips is always wonderful but not what you’d expect in Italy.
But the distinctive aroma of fish and chips has been wafting through the Italian medieval town of Barga every summer since the early 1980s.
The Sagra del Pesce e Patatem or Fish and Chip Festival takes place on the home ground of the local football team, AS Barga, at the Johnny Moscardini stadium, named after the only Scottish-born male footballer who has played for Italy.
The event raises funds for the club and also a number of charities.
Benches at the festival are filled over the course of about a fortnight with Italians, Scottish-Italians and other visitors sampling the delights of one of the UK’s most popular takeaways.
“The festival – dedicated to the Scottish dish of the fish supper – is a tribute to the history and tradition of emigration from Barga to Scotland,” explains one of the organisers, Leonardo Mori.
“It is undoubtedly one of the events that best represents the link between Barga and Scotland.”
But the long-standing link between this Tuscan town and Scotland goes back much further than the 1980s.
Many emigrants at the start of the 20th Century and between the two world wars left Barga and the hillside villages that surround it to start a new life further north in Bonnie Scotland.
It is a connection which sees the town proudly declare itself the most Scottish in Italy. Many Italians who emigrated to Scotland ironically ended up selling either ice cream or fish and chips for work.
And, while the residents of Barga are no strangers to ice-cream, there was more mystery about its deep-fried Scottish counterpart.
Mr Mori said the festival began as a way of allowing those who had never left Italy to sample the dish that many of their countrymen and women produced.
It also benefited from the influx of fish fryers from right across Scotland to Barga every summer.
The idea really started in the early 1980s when, during historic mule races, the organisers thought about finding a way to pay tribute to the Scottish-Italians coming back to Barga for their summer holidays, he said.
“In those early years it was the emigrants who passed on their skills in fish frying to the festival’s volunteers.”
The fish and chip festival usually takes place during the first two weeks of August. Full Scottish breakfasts are also served and there is of course some bagpipe playing to accompany all the eating.
Barga is a medieval town in the province of Lucca in Tuscany and home to around 10,000 people. It is the chief town of the “Media Valle” (mid valley) of the Serchio River and known as one of most beautiful villages of Italy.
Nestled in the heart of the Garfagnana Nature Reserve this quaint hilltop town is known for lush greenery and calming waters, tempting you with that tranquillity unique to Tuscany.
That is not to say Barga is without its famous figures. Giovanni Pascoli was a renowned Italian poet and scholar who lived in Barga 1895-1912, and his museum is a significant attraction in the town.
There is also the Barag Jazz Festival which started in 1986 and occurs from late July through August.
If you want to see Barga for yourself and sample its fish and chips, or something more Italian perhaps, the nearest airport is Pisa which is around 40km (25 miles) away.
EasyJet, Ryanair, Britsh Airways and Jet2 all fly to Pisa from UK airports with flights out of season starting at £46 return.
