Agoni

Lake Como Fish – Agoni and the Legend of the Sardines

From a faunal perspective, Lake Como boasts a wide variety of fish species. Some are typical of freshwater environments, such as trout and pike, while others are somewhat less common, such as whitefish, agone, perch, trout, carp, chub, eel, pike, and bleak. Each fish has its own history, flavor, and traditional use that reflects the environmental balance of Lake Como.
Take the agone, for example: a small fish, catchable only between May and June, with a shape that somewhat resembles a sardine. Could they be related?

There is a story, told by fishermen to their young grandchildren or to curious adults, that narrates how the sardine became the agone.
There is certainly a grain of truth to it... It seems that back when there was only water instead of beautiful panoramas, rich villas, and lavish gardens, some sardine-shaped aquatic inhabitants happened to pass through these parts. When the waters receded and the sardines did not take the Adda river route back to the sea, they settled in a deep lake that had become familiar to them; adapted to the cold, fresh water, they established themselves here. They began to feed on what their new home provided, partially losing their marine appearance. From that time on, the sardines began to be called agoni to distinguish themselves from their maritime cousins.

Between truth and legend, what is certain is that the agone is still fished in the waters of Lake Como, with the appropriate licenses and in permitted locations. However, to fully appreciate the history of the agone, one must stop at one of the restaurants specializing in lake fish cuisine. Here, you should order missultitt, the dialect name for missoltini. They take this name because the agoni caught in Lake Como are dried in the sun, then pressed with salt and bay leaves in wooden containers called “missolte.” The flavor is intense and heady. The process is entirely natural and artisanal: missoltini are still made by hand, with patience and mastery, carrying a historical tradition through the years.