Bizulà

In local bakeries, especially around Via del Porto, it is not difficult to find the typical bizulà, a characteristic kind of bread, commonly called “the sailors’ bread”. In the past, when sailors used to spend consecutive days out in the Sea, it was necessary to provide them with food that would not deteriorate in short time. Therefore, the bizulà: less famous than the piadina, but not for this less tasty, its around shaped Bread with centuries long History. The name comes from the Venetian bozolatus, from the late Latin bucellatum, literally meaning “small bite”. The name is connected to the gesture performed with the round bread: sailors used to soak it in wine to make it softer and then eat it slowly, savouring, it bite after bite. The round shape had a practical function: a rope was passed through the central hole of the piece, creating long necklaces that were hunged in the ship’s hold, far from the ravenous reach of the mices. The leftover pieces of bread were brought home by sailors to share with the family, usually as an accompaniment to the brodetto (a fish soup) or the fish broth, two dishes that have their  origin in traditional poor cuisine. The brodetto was prepared using leftover fishes, fishes with many bones, and also fishes from the muséna, sailor’s share of the catch.