Every year Dervio, on the eastern shore of Lake Como, hosts the Sagra del Misultin, dedicated to missoltino — the salted, dried agone fish that is one of the lake’s most distinctive culinary specialities. The event takes place at Parco Boldona, on the lakefront, and is organised by the local Pro Loco.
The misultin tradition
Misultin (or missoltino) is agone, a lake fish traditionally caught between late spring and summer, which is cleaned, salted and hung to air-dry threaded on strings; once dried, it is preserved pressed in tin or wooden containers with bay leaves, a method that once provided a year-round food reserve. The practice is common to several fishing villages on Lake Como.
The festival
Besides meals featuring misultin, the festival sets up a display at Parco Boldona illustrating how agone is turned into misultin, offers a free boat ride (on the traditional “Lucie” boats) to admire the village from the lake, and features aquariums with local fish species and children’s activities. One of the festival’s organisers has called Dervio “the capital of agone”, for its long-standing specialisation in this craft.
Practical information
The festival is generally held between late June and early July, on a weekend that varies from year to year: for the programme and current dates, refer to the Municipality of Dervio and the local Pro Loco.