Ristorante Marea Pizzaria in Italy’s chic Marina di Pietrasanta is no ordinary pizza parlor. This modern, crisp-decor restaurant in an exclusive Italian beach town uses the freshest caught seafood and local wines for its menu. I was glad to be hosted to experience it!
There’s lots of outdoor seating that people catch a sea breeze with; Italians tend not to prefer the artificial feeling of A/C in the summertime.
The meal started out with oil and salt-toasted bread. Sparkling wine was poured, because that’s the civilized Italian way to enjoy lunch in the summertime. Soon, lunch followed:
Insalata Mista di Mare, Mousse di Cernia e Carpaccio di Salmone: this was a creamy, delectably right-out-of-the-ocean seafood salad served on a crisp, alongside salmon carpaccio. The salad was garnished with whole pink peppercorns, which seems to be a favored seasoning/garnish in the Lucca area. The mild salmon carpaccio was garnished with salted radish.
Paccheri Misto Mare: they called it a “macaroni” with seafood, including baby clams in the shell. Macaroni in Italy means more than elbow macaroni. These were larger, tender flattened tubes. It was just the right portion for lunch, too. . . not leaving one logged down.
Macedonia mista di Frutta: a fruit salad of seasonal produce, including melons and the local favorite, white peaches. The strawberries in the salad were so red, they seemed supernatural. It was a refreshing dessert for a beach area.
