The first time I saw colatura di alici, I didn’t believe it came from anchovies. The liquid in the bottle was clear amber, almost like aged whiskey, and it smelled more like the sea at dawn than anything you’d call fishy. A few drops over hot spaghetti, and I understood why this stuff has been made the same way for centuries.
Colatura di alici is the liquid gold that drips from salted anchovies fermenting in wooden barrels. It’s not fish sauce the way you know it — it’s floral, savory, and so concentrated that two or three drops are enough to transform an entire plate of pasta. And it comes from a single tiny village on the Amalfi Coast that most people drive right past.
What Exactly Is Colatura di Alici?
Colatura di alici is the liquid that slowly drips from salted anchovies as they ferment inside small wooden barrels called terzigni. The process is a direct descendant of Roman garum, the fermented fish sauce that was a staple of ancient Roman cooking. But unlike garum, which disappeared from most of Europe after the empire fell, the tradition survived in one place: Cetara, a working fishing village on the Amalfi Coast.
The anchovies used are Engraulis encrasicolus, caught at night between March and August using lampara lights that mimic moonlight. They’re beheaded and gutted the same day, layered with coarse sea salt in chestnut wood barrels, and pressed with heavy stones. Over time — a minimum of nine months under PDO rules, often two to three years for the best bottles — the salt draws out a clear amber liquid. A single small barrel yields roughly one litre.
In 2020, colatura di alici received EU protected designation of origin (PDO) status. That means only anchovies caught in the Tyrrhenian Sea and processed within Cetara can carry the name. Anything labeled “colatura” without the Cetara DOP mark may use different fish, faster methods, or additives.
A Sauce the Romans Would Recognize
Romans made garum by layering fermented fish — anchovies, mackerel, tuna — with salt in stone vats and leaving them under the Mediterranean sun. The condiment travelled as far north as Britain and as far east as the Black Sea. When Rome fell, garum faded from most of Europe. But in Cetara, families kept salting and pressing anchovies in wooden barrels, and medieval monks continued the practice.
The link between ancient garum and modern colatura isn’t just folklore. Iannucci et al. identified more than 60 volatile compounds in finished colatura, including benzaldehyde and 2-phenylethanol, which contribute floral and sweet notes alongside savory depth. That complexity is what sets it apart from any other fish sauce you’ve tried.
Colatura is a concentrate of omega-3s (DHA and EPA), taurine, glutamate, and marine peptides. The fermentation process releases omega-3s from esterified forms into free fatty acids and lysophospholipids, which improves absorption compared to some fish oil supplements.
The Making — Why It Takes Years
Every autumn, Cetara’s fishing boats bring in the fattest local anchovies after summer. The fish are cleaned, salted, and packed into terzigni barrels with a heavy stone on top. The pressing lasts at least four months, but the best colatura matures for two to three years. Slow leakage of liquid through the wood produces tiny yields — artisan bottles often cost more than many wines.
The process hasn’t changed much across generations. A handful of Cetara families still use traditional methods, and the knowledge passes from parent to child. Angela Giordano, who has been cleaning anchovies since age ten, described the work as requiring monk-like attention. Her family is in its third generation of making colatura.
At full maturation, a small hole is made under the terzigni to collect the liquid drop by drop. The dehydrated fish left behind is delivered to local companies for fish feed. Nothing goes to waste.
How to Use It — The Rules Matter
Colatura is not a cooking ingredient. You add it raw, off the heat, at the very last moment. Heat destroys the volatile aromatic compounds that develop during fermentation, and it oxidizes the delicate polyunsaturated fats. A few drops over hot pasta or grilled fish, and the flavor opens up without overwhelming anything else.
The classic dish is spaghetti ajo, ojo e colatura — garlic, olive oil, parsley, and two or three drops of colatura. Cook the spaghetti in unsalted water (colatura is already very savory), warm extra virgin olive oil with sliced garlic and a small fresh chili, toss the pasta with the oil, add the colatura raw, and finish with parsley. That’s it.
Never salt the pasta water when making spaghetti alla colatura. The sauce itself is concentrated enough. A single tablespoon flavors an entire dish, and a drop is enough for a single portion. Start with less than you think you need.
Colatura also works on boiled vegetables, legume soups, and grilled octopus. A few drops on bruschetta with fresh tomato is surprisingly good. If you’re traveling with kids who are wary of strong flavors, the spaghetti version might win them over — my family found it mild enough that even the pickiest eater asked for seconds.
- Use colatura raw, off the heat — never cook it
- Two to three drops is enough for a portion of pasta
- Don’t salt the pasta water when making spaghetti alla colatura
- Refrigerate after opening and use within a few weeks
Visiting Cetara
Cetara sits on the SS163 coastal road between Salerno and Amalfi, quieter than its more famous neighbours. Most visitors drive through without stopping. The village has a small harbour framed by a 14th-century Saracen tower, a few restaurants that serve colatura simply, and a handful of artisan shops where you can buy bottles directly from producers.
The anchovy fishing season runs from March through August. In December, the village holds the Sagra della Colatura di Alici, a festival celebrating the sauce and the community’s continuity. Inside the Saracen tower, a small museum displays ancient anchors, fishing nets, and contemporary art alongside the cultural history of the town.
Cetara is compact and easy to explore on foot. Parking is tight, so arriving by SITA bus from Salerno or Amalfi is the smartest option. A weekday morning between May and June avoids the worst of the summer crowds. A bottle of authentic DOP colatura runs roughly 15 to 25 euros for 200 millilitres, depending on aging time.
Parking in Cetara is very limited. The village is small enough to see in a couple of hours, so a bus trip works well. If you’re driving the Amalfi Coast in summer, the SS163 gets heavy traffic — plan your stop for a weekday morning.
Why the PDO Label Actually Matters
Before the PDO recognition in 2020, non-authentic versions of colatura were appearing in markets — products using different fish, faster fermentation methods, or additives that changed the flavor entirely. The Association for the Enhancement of Cetara’s Colatura di Alici pushed for protected status to defend the traditional product from imitations.
The PDO mark guarantees that the anchovies were caught in the Tyrrhenian Sea, processed within Cetara, and aged according to traditional methods. Four producing companies — Iasa, Delfino, Armatore, and Nettuno — and three restaurants in Cetara participated in the certification process. If you’re buying a bottle outside Italy, look for the DOP mark. Specialty Italian shops in the US and UK sometimes stock authentic colatura, but availability varies.
Something You Never Expected
Anchovies turned into something you never expected — that’s the story of colatura. It’s not a secret ingredient or a trendy condiment. It’s a centuries-old process that survived in one village because the method works perfectly and nobody saw a reason to change it. The patience of slow fermentation in wooden barrels, the small yields, the families who have done this for generations — it all adds up to a sauce that tastes like nothing else on the Amalfi Coast. If you want to understand why Cetara itself is worth the stop, I wrote more about what makes the village tick.
Sources and further reading
Amalfi Experience. “Cetara anchovy sauce at Alimentaria 2026.” 2026. 🔗
Love to Visit Italy. “The tiny Amalfi village sitting on a secret that Romans knew 2,000 years ago.” 🔗
Lipidomic Blog. “Alici di Cetara and Colatura — The Southern Italian Liquid Gold Rich in DHA and Omega-3s.” 2026. 🔗
Amalfi Coast Travel. “Cetara Anchovies.” 🔗
Related reading on Emily in Italy
Cetara Still Smells Like Anchovies — And That’s Exactly the Point — A deeper look at why this working fishing village feels different from the rest of the Amalfi Coast.
Try Cetara’s Colatura di Alici Before Anyone Convinces You Otherwise — Practical tips for buying, storing, and cooking with colatura, plus how it stacks up against Asian fish sauces.