The Rise of Coregone at Lake Garda: Fishery, Cuisine, and Conservation
For many years now, carpione has no longer supported the economy of professional fishing on Lake Garda. Instead, what guarantees a livelihood for the last professional fishermen is an imported species: the coregone, better known as lavarello. This fish has very white flesh, “not at all fatty, like that of trouts and carpione, easily digestible and almost spine-free,” as ichthyologist Enzo Oppi described.
How is lavarello eaten? In a thousand ways. Its meat lends itself to being prepared in various styles. On the Brescia shore, an entire event dedicated to coregone is organized, featuring a tour of restaurants in Valtenesi. However, the classic way to cook it is grilled.
Indeed, there is a school of thought on the lake that firmly claims carpione should be boiled, and lavarello should be grilled, thereby giving the coregone equal dignity with the other rare and celebrated Benacense salmonid.
Opinions of experts and the spread of coregone in Garda
Livio Parisi, one of the connoisseurs of Garda fish cuisine, even states: “The real death knell for lavarello, according to locals, is the coals. And what can I say? …They are absolutely right, judging by the delightful aroma emanating from the crackling coals.”
It is always the coregone that competes with the salmon trout, a farmed fish, for the top spot on the grills of the trattorias along the coast.
Yet, it has been said that the lavarello-coregone is not an indigenous species of Garda. It was first introduced into Italy’s largest lake in 1918. To be precise, the first stocking of one million fifty thousand coregoni was carried out by the Regia stazione di piscicoltura in February 1918 in the bays of Salò and Desenzano.
Subsequently, other stockings were managed by the Stabilimento ittiogenico di Peschiera. “The first specimen,” reports Floreste Malfer in Benaco (1927), “was collected struggling on the surface on February 20, 1921.”
The eminent ichthyologist wrote that “the future will tell what place this salmonid will carve out in Garda’s fish family.” Today, that place is of absolute prominence.
Although, since it is an introduced fish in Garda waters only relatively recently, it could be argued that grilled lavarello does not yet constitute one of the traditional lake dishes.
However, the lavarello phenomenon has become so ingrained in Garda gastronomy that it now characterizes both restaurant cuisine and everyday home cooking. Who could imagine Benaco without lavarelli?
Perhaps some initial concern arose during certain sudden famines. There was a period after the 1960s when catches of coregoni sharply declined.
Then came a recovery, followed by further decline that persisted until the early 1990s, when lavarello became abundant again. Ivano Confortini, ichthyologist of the Provincia di Verona, reassures skeptics: “There is nothing to worry about; populations are naturally subject to periodic density fluctuations. Gourmets can sleep peacefully.”
