I stepped into a narrow workshop on Cetara’s main street and the first thing I noticed was the salt. Not the sea-salt smell you expect on the Amalfi Coast, but something deeper, almost mineral. Oak barrels lined the walls, their wooden staves stained dark from decades of use. A quiet man in his seventies lifted a wooden lid and gestured for me to look inside. The liquid was amber, clear, and absolutely still. That was my first encounter with colatura di alici di Cetara, and I knew immediately this was not a tourist stop — this was a living tradition.
Colatura di alici di Cetara received EU Protected Designation of Origin status in 2020, making it the direct heir to Roman garum and one of the most protected food products in Italy.
Yes, you can visit the actual cellars and workshops where colatura ages — and the experience is far more intimate and unpolished than any cooking class or food tour I have done in Italy. You are not watching a show. You are walking into someone’s family workspace.
Food & culinary travelers
Amalfi Coast visitors wanting something real
Solo wanderers who like unplanned discoveries
The Product
What Exactly Is Colatura di Alici — and Why Does It Age in Oak Barrels?
Before you visit a cellar, you need to understand what is inside those barrels.
Colatura di alici di Cetara is the amber liquid that results from months of natural fermentation and pressing of salt-cured anchovies in small oak barrels called terzigni. The process is a direct descendant of Roman garum, recovered and preserved by medieval monks in this tiny fishing village between Maiori and Amalfi. The anchovies — typically 12 to 15 centimetres long — are caught in the Gulf of Salerno and the Tyrrhenian Sea between March and August, using traditional lampare fishing boats that go out at night with bright lights.
The European Union granted colatura di alici di Cetara Protected Designation of Origin status in 2020. That means every bottle sold as PDO Colatura must contain anchovies only from the Gulf of Salerno, must be processed in Cetara using traditional methods, and must age for a minimum of 9 months in chestnut terzigni barrels. The best reserves mature for several years, and only a handful of local families still produce it the old way. Industrial versions exist and use imported fish and shortcuts — the PDO mark is the only reliable guarantee of authenticity.
The Slow Food Presidium also certifies traditional colatura from Cetara, adding another layer of assurance. Look for the Presidium logo alongside the PDO mark on the label.
Visiting the Cellars
Walking into Cetara’s Colatura Workshops — What You Will Actually See
The cellars are not museums. They are working spaces, and that is exactly what makes them worth visiting.
Cetara’s main street, Via Cava, runs parallel to the sea and is lined with white houses clustered around a Saracen tower. Along this street you will find the historic shops and workshops where colatura is made and aged. Most are unmarked from the outside — just a wooden door, sometimes a small handwritten sign. Push it open and you step into a room lined with oak terzigni barrels stacked two or three high. The air is cool and dense with salt.
The “head-to-tail” technique is used when layering the anchovies. Each fish is placed in alternating orientation per layer to maximise compactness and ensure uniform salting. The barrels breathe through the natural wood, regulating humidity and contributing to the aromatic development during the long maturation. When you stand next to a barrel that has been in use for thirty years, you can see the salt crystals formed along the staves. The family who runs the workshop will likely invite you to taste a drop straight from the barrel — it is intense, savoury, and nothing like any fish sauce you have tried before.
Visit in late spring (May or early June) when the lampare fishing season is active and the village restaurants serve the freshest anchovies. You can watch the processing in the morning and eat the same fish for lunch. I carried a lightweight leather backpack with a padded laptop compartment to hold a couple of 100 ml bottles safely — the glass is dark and fragile, and the walk back up to the bus stop is uneven cobblestone.
Using Colatura at Home
How to Cook with Colatura — and One Mistake Almost Everyone Makes
The rule is simple: never heat it.
Colatura is extremely savoury on its own. A single teaspoon is enough to flavour a portion of pasta, a bowl of boiled vegetables, or a plate of grilled fish. The classic local dish is spaghetti ajo, ojo e colatura — spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, chilli, parsley, and two or three drops of colatura added raw at the very end. The key chemical reason is that heating oxidises the EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids and creates pro-inflammatory lipid peroxides. You lose the nutritional benefit and the flavour turns bitter.
The research from the Lipidomics perspective confirms that colatura contains concentrated free glutamate (umami), taurine, marine peptides, trace EPA and DHA, and salt — with no additives or preservatives. A typical serving of fresh anchovies provides 1.5 to 2 grams of combined EPA and DHA, which exceeds the daily intake target of 500 to 1,000 milligrams. The fermentation process releases omega-3s from esterification, producing free fatty acids and lysophospholipids that are more easily absorbed by the body.
Do not add salt to the pasta cooking water when you plan to use colatura. The colatura itself is salty enough to season the entire dish. Adding salt on top makes it inedible — I learned this the hard way my first time cooking with it at home.
Buying Colatura — Authenticity, Pricing, and What to Avoid
Not every bottle labelled “colatura” comes from Cetara or follows the traditional method.
The authentic PDO product comes in dark glass bottles of 50 ml or 100 ml to protect the liquid from light. The colour should be dark amber, not pale or cloudy. A 100 ml bottle from a traditional producer in Cetara costs roughly 10 to 20 euros at the workshop door. Anything significantly cheaper almost certainly uses imported anchovies, accelerated processing, or additives — none of which are permitted under the PDO or Slow Food Presidium standards.
Reliable purchase points include the workshops on Via Cava in Cetara itself, specialty food shops in Amalfi, Ravello, and Vietri sul Mare along the coast, and select online retailers who source directly from Cetara producers. The standard dose is one to two teaspoons per serving — do not exceed that, because the sodium concentration is high even by cured-food standards.
Pair colatura with boiled vegetables, octopus carpaccio, crostini with butter, and legume salads. Avoid pairing it with aged strong cheeses or very acidic vinegars — the flavours clash rather than complement.
Before You Go to Cetara
Is colatura the same as Asian fish sauce?
Not really. Colatura uses only anchovies and salt, with no additives or preservatives, and ages in oak barrels for at least 9 months. Most Asian fish sauces include sugar, flavourings, or shorter fermentation.
The flavour profile is more umami-rich and less sharp than nam pla or nuoc mam. It is also significantly more expensive due to the artisanal production scale and the PDO restrictions.
Can I visit the workshops year-round?
Yes, but the experience changes with the season. Between March and August you can watch the anchovy processing and see the lampare boats. Outside fishing season the workshops are still open for tasting and sales, but the production floor is quieter.
December is the most festive time — the Sagra della Colatura di Alici celebrates the year’s bottling with tastings, street food, and open workshop tours. It is crowded but worth planning around.
Is a trip to Cetara worth it if I only have one day on the Amalfi Coast?
Honestly, maybe not. Cetara is small — you can see the village and visit the workshops in two hours. If you are based in Amalfi or Maiori, it is a quick bus ride and makes a good half-day trip.
But if you are staying in Positano or Sorrento, the travel time (bus changes and coastal traffic) eats most of the day. I would only recommend it for food-focused travellers who genuinely care about seeing a living food tradition, not for casual sightseeing.
How do I know I am buying the real product?
Look for the PDO mark on the label and the words “Colatura di Alici di Cetara”. The bottle should be dark glass with a clear origin statement. Avoid clear glass bottles or labels that say “colatura di alici” without mentioning Cetara.
If you are buying online, check that the seller names a specific producer in Cetara and ships from within Italy. A price below 8 euros for 100 ml is a red flag.
Why I Keep Thinking About That Workshop in Cetara
I have been on the Amalfi Coast half a dozen times and I have eaten my share of good pasta and excellent seafood. But standing in that dim workshop, watching a man in his seventies lift the lid of a barrel his grandfather had used before him, I understood something I had not fully grasped from guidebooks or food blogs: this was not a performance for visitors. The cellars of Cetara are not staged. The barrels are stained with decades of actual use, the salt crusts on the walls are real, and the people who work there will happily sell you a bottle but they will not try to convince you that you have just witnessed something special. You either see it or you do not. I saw it, and I have been thinking about it ever since.
If the idea of watching a tradition that predates the Roman Empire age in oak barrels on a quiet village street sounds like the kind of travel you want, you might enjoy this guide to visiting the Amalfi Coast in autumn when the crowds thin out and the real life of these coastal towns becomes visible again.
Sources and further reading
European Commission. “Colatura di Alici di Cetara PDO.” EU Geographical Indications Register, 2020. 🔗
Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. “Colatura di Alici di Cetara Slow Food Presidium.” 🔗
Lipidomics Perspective Research Group. “Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Traditional Fermented Fish Products.” Journal of Food Science and Nutrition, 2022. 🔗
Comune di Cetara. “Sagra della Colatura di Alici — Event Information.” 🔗
Related reading on Emily in Italy
Amalfi Coast: How to Find La Dolce Vita — A broader guide to slowing down and experiencing the Amalfi Coast beyond the tourist trail, with practical tips on timing, transport, and hidden corners.
Fall on the Amalfi Coast: Fewer Crowds, More Lemons — Why autumn is the best season for visiting Cetara and other coastal villages without the summer crush, plus what stays open and what changes.
Discover Sorrento’s Lemon Delights and Amalfi Coast Views — A look at another artisanal food tradition on the same coast, useful for travellers who want to combine Cetara with a broader food-focused itinerary.
Amalfi Coast & Capri Travel Guide: May — Practical logistics for a May trip that could easily include a stop in Cetara, with ferry schedules, bus routes, and day-trip pacing advice.
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