While planning my trip to southern Italy, I discovered Trabocci and after reading about them knew…read morethat I had to track them down so that I could see them in real life and take photos. From Wikipedia: A trabucco is a massive construction built from wood, which consists of a platform anchored to the rock by large logs of pine of Aleppo, jutting out into the sea, from where two (or more) long arms called antennae stretch out suspended some feet above the water and supporting a huge, narrow-meshed, net (called trabocchetto). IN other words, its a type of pier that fishermen use to fish right off of the beaches along the Abruzzo coastline. What I found during my research was that some of these amazing structures actually have restaurants on them and I did some searching and found Trabocco Punta Cavallucio was one of these restaurants and I made a reservation.
The experience was fantastic.
It can be a bit tricky to find, but luckily I had noticed the sign while driving past on the way to our hotel earlier in the day. The Google Maps was sending us to the WRONG location! We arrived and it was in a dark area on the beach, but was lit up with little lights. We were the first to arrive (they eat so late in Italy!) at 8pm and the gate to the bridge was locked. I had a bit of a panic attack but then someone came out and opened the gate and we headed into the restaurant. We got to pick where we wanted to sit so chose a "window" seat, although the windows are covered with a plastic covering that makes it difficult to see out. I believe they can open these on clear warm nights and they also have outdoor seating, but this night was a rainy one.
It works like this. Everyone arrives and gets seated and everyone is served together. If you're late, they will catch you up. For 50 Euros, you receive your beverage: wine or beer or both, and then the food starts coming out! There is no menu, you are served what is fresh that day. I have posted photos of the crazy stuff we ate that night! We spoke very little Italian and they spoke no English so there was just no way to even know what we were eating except for those few items we recognized, but we tasted everything and enjoyed the experience and everything tasted pretty good.
The service was wonderful and friendly even though we had a language barrier. The restaurant was warm and cozy and clean. The restrooms were outside and back on land and while they were a pit style, they were clean and easy to use.
This was a restaurant in which we were the only tourists. The people dining were locals or friends. It was casual, but still nice.
They frowned when I asked about credit, so I just paid cash. They may take credit, but don't want to.
This was just the kind of experience that is completely unique and we enjoyed every moment. It was one of the highlights of our vacation and I highly recommend this restaurant and experience to anyone who finds themselves in the San Vito Chietino.
